'I do not think there was anything remarkable except that in what he said to me,' said Miss Montressor. 'The subject was again referred to during our drive home, and he told me the watch containing the portrait was a parting gift from his wife. She had given it to him on the very evening before he had left New York, and he had promised always to wear it. I thought it a little unusual for a man to speak so frankly and so freely of a thing of the kind, and I suppose I said it or looked it. I do not remember that, but I do recollect his saying, "Out of the fulness of the heart, you know. Miss Montressor, the mouth speaketh," when neither a lack of sympathy nor ridicule was to be apprehended. I thought him a man of considerable feeling, and that he found his sojourn in England very wearisome, so that he was relieved by finding any one, even a stranger, to whom he might talk of his home.' 'He was not a reticent man,' said Bryan Duval, 'as I have good reason to know; a reason which I shall tell you presently if, as I fear, there is more in this matter than meets the eye, and I have to ask your help in a painful duty that may fall to my share. But pray go on, and tell me what is the connection between Mr. Foster's confidence to you and the lady whom you saw tonight.' Miss Montressor hesitated for just one moment. Could she explain herself fully without the revelation of the family secret she had strongly desired to preserve? Not if Bryan Duval were to question her very closely on material issues. 'Never mind,' she thought, 'I must risk it. I won't tell it unless I am forced, but I cannot hold my tongue here--it is too serious.'