“Yes,--he was cross!” he rejoined. “I, like your husband, am in his service--and I ought to have been on duty to-day. It will be all right, however--all right! But--” He paused for a moment, then went on--“You say that only wicked and selfish people make others unhappy. Now suppose your husband were wicked and selfish enough to make _you_ unhappy; what would you say?” A sweet smile shone in her eyes. “He could not make me unhappy!” she said. “He would not try! He loves me, and he will always love me!” “But, suppose,” persisted the Professor--“Just for the sake of argument--suppose he had deceived you?” With a low cry she sprang up. “Impossible!” she exclaimed; “He is truth itself! He could not deceive anyone!” “Come and sit down again,” said Von Glauben tranquilly; “It is disturbing to my mind to see you standing there pronouncing your faith in the integrity of man! No male creature deserves such implicit trust, and whenever a woman gives it, she invariably finds out her mistake!” But Gloria stood still, The rich colour had faded from her cheeks--her eyes were dilated with alarm, and her breath came and went quickly. “You must explain,” she said hurriedly; “You must tell me what you mean by suggesting such a wicked thought to me as that my husband could deceive me! It is not right or kind of you,--it is cruel!” The Professor scrambled up hastily out of his sandy nook, and approaching her, took her hand very gently and respectfully in his own and kissed it. “My dear--my princess--I was wrong! Forgive me!” he murmured, and there was a little tremor in his voice; “But can you not understand the possibility of a man loving a woman very much, and yet deceiving her for her good?” “It could never be for her good,” said Gloria firmly; “It would not be for mine! No lie ever lasts!” Von Glauben looked at her with a sense of reverence and something like awe. The after-glow of the sinking sun was burning low down upon the sea, and turning it to fiery crimson, and as she stood bathed in its splendour, the white rocks towering above her, and the golden sands sparkling at her feet, she appeared like some newly descended angel expressing the very truth of Heaven itself in her own presence on earth. As they stood thus, the sudden boom of a single cannon echoed clear across the waves.