"Richard Maynadier, I want to know, whether you believe that tale, or whether you do not." "I do not _want_ to believe it," he said, after a pause. "Thank you! but that is not enough; any friend would naturally not _want_ to believe. It is not what you want, but what you do believe." "Will you tell me it is not true?" he asked. "I will tell you nothing," she returned, "until you answer my question." "I will believe whatever you say." "Then, you will be without belief on this question." He hesitated a bit longer. Between Miss Stirling's assertion and Judith Marbury's method of denial--for denial, he assumed it to be--it was difficult to choose. But, in his heart, he was doubting the former--her eyesight was at fault--something was at fault. It could not have been Judith--some one else, who resembled her in the moonlight. He cared, not at all, who, so long as it was not she. That Miss Stirling had deliberately lied, did not occur to him. He held woman on too high a plane--besides, the Maryland women (whom he knew) did not lie. "For the last time, Dick," she said, the faintest touch of chilliness in her tones, "do you believe that I ever kissed Sir Edward Parkington, in the park or elsewhere?" And, now, Maynadier's answer was ready and instant. "I do not," he said; "I think I never did." "You great stupid," she laughed. "Of course you never did. But why was it so hard for you to say it?" "I do not know," he confessed. "Oh, yes, I think you do," she answered. "It was because _I_ had caught _you_--for you, sir, there can be no denial. And your forgiveness will have to bide a bit, _Mr. Maynadier_." And before he could reply, she had left him; nor did he see her, again, before he departed from Hedgely Hall. XV LONG-SWORD AGAIN For more than six weeks, taken up entirely by his duties as one of the Council, Richard Maynadier remained in Annapolis or at country houses in the immediate vicinity;--Whitehall, the Governor's summer place, ten miles distant; at Belvoir, the Ross place on Wyatt's Ridge, up the Severn, overlooking the waters of Round Bay; at Tulip Hall, the Galloway place on West River; and at Montpelier, the Ridgely place, on the Savage. Governor Sharpe was having his troubles with the Lower House of the General Assembly over the Supply Bill, which he regarded as necessary in one form, and the law makers in another. The executive and the legislative minds would not meet, as to what was best for the well-being of the Colony, and, as a result, they were kept in session through the summer, and not suffered to adjourn. The Governor refused to prorogue them until they passed a Bill acceptable to him; they refused to pass such a Bill. A deadlock was the natural result--during which much unkind language was used, by the Representatives toward the Governor.