"You can ask the questions, at any rate," he said; "I will answer them if I can." "The young lady--did she refuse you from personal reasons? A man can always tell, you know. Hadn't you the impression, from her answer, that it was more the force of circumstances than any objection to you which prompted her negative? I've put it bluntly, but you know what I mean." Wolfenden did not answer for nearly a minute. He was gazing steadily seaward, recalling with a swift effort of his imagination every word which had passed between them--he could even hear her voice, and see her face with the soft, dark eyes so close to his. It was a luxury of recollection. "I will admit," he said, quietly, "that what you suggest has already occurred to me. If it had not, I should be much more unhappy than I am at this moment. To tell you the honest truth I was not content with her answer, or rather the manner of it. I should have had some hope of inducing her to, at any rate, modify it, but for Mr. Sabin's unexpected appearance. About him, at least, there was no hesitation; he said no, and he meant it." "That is what I imagined might be the case," Harcutt said thoughtfully. "I don't want to have you think that I imagine any disrespect to the young lady, but don't you see that either she and Mr. Sabin must stand towards one another in an equivocal position, or else they must be in altogether a different station of life to their assumed one, when they dismiss the subject of an alliance with you so peremptorily." Wolfenden flushed up to the temples, and his eyes were lit with fire. "You may dismiss all idea of the former possibility," he said, with ominous quietness. "If you wish me to discuss this matter with you further you will be particularly careful to avoid the faintest allusion to it." "I have never seriously entertained it," Harcutt assented cheerfully; "I, too, believe in the girl. She looks at once too proud and too innocent for any association of such thoughts with her. She has the bearing and the manners of a queen. Granted, then, that we dismiss the first possibility." "Absolutely and for ever," Wolfenden said firmly. "I may add that Mr. Sabin met me with a distinct reason for his refusal--he informed me his niece was already betrothed." "That may or may not be true," Harcutt said. "It does not affect the question which we are considering at present. We must come to the conclusion that these are people of considerable importance. That is what I honestly believe. Now what do you suppose brings Mr. Sabin to such an out of the way hole as this?" "The golf, very likely," Wolfenden said. "He is a magnificent player." Harcutt frowned. "If I thought so," he said, "I should consider my journey here a wasted one. But I can't. He is in the midst of delicate and important negotiations--I know as much as that. He would not come down here at such a time to play golf. It is an absurd idea!"