I shook my head. There was one thing which I had to tell. Could any man be found to forgive that? "I came back here resolved to tell you all. If I could not ask for your love, Kitty, I might, at the very least, win your pity." "What have you to tell me, my lord?" It was well that the night was so dark that my face could not be seen. Oh, telltale cheeks, aglow with fear and joy! "What have you to tell me?" I repeated. "It is a story which I trust to your eyes alone," he said. "I have written it down. Before we part to-night I will give it to you. Come"--he took my hand again, but his was cold--"come, we must not stay longer. Let me lead you from this slippery and dangerous place." "One moment"--I would have lingered there all night to listen to the accents of his dear voice. "If you, my lord, have a secret to tell to me, I also have one to tell you." "Nay," he replied. "I can hear none of your pretty secrets. My peace is already destroyed. Besides," he added desperately, "when you have read what I have written you will see that it would be idle to waste another thought upon me." "I will read it," I said, "to-night. But, my lord, on one promise." "And that is?" "That you will not leave Epsom without my knowledge. Let me speak with you once more after I have read it, if it is only to weep with you and to say farewell." "I promise." "And--oh, my lord! if I may say it--since your lordship may not marry me, then I, for your sake, will never marry any other man." "Kitty!" "That is my promise, my lord. And perhaps--sometimes--you will give a thought to your poor--fond Kitty." He caught me in his arms and showered kisses upon my cheeks and lips, calling me his angel and a thousand other names, until I gently pushed him from me and begged him to take me back to the company. He knelt at my feet and took my hand in his, holding it in silence. I knew that he was praying for the blessing of Heaven upon my unworthy head. Then he led me back to the circle of lights, when the first person we met was Miss Peggy Baker. "Why, here," she cried, looking sharply from one to the other, "are my lord and Miss Pleydell. Strange that the two people we have most missed should be found at the same time--and together, which is stranger still." Nancy left her swains and ran to greet me. "My dear," she whispered, "you have been crying. Is all well?" "I am the happiest woman and the most unhappy in the world," I said. "I wish I were in my bed alone and crying on my pillow;" and she squeezed my hand and ran back to her lovers. My lord himself walked home with us. We left before the party broke up. At parting he placed in my hand a roll of paper. "Remember," I whispered; "you have promised." He made no answer, but stooped and kissed my fingers. CHAPTER XIV. HOW MY LORD MADE HIS CONFESSION. It was not a long manuscript. I kissed the dear handwriting before I began. "To the Queen of my Heart," it began.