'We should have believed him innocent until the thing was proved. We did not. We cast him out from among us; and now, after eight years--he has come back poor, you say, and sunk so low that he is ashamed to see his people, and we are going to believe another charge based on may have been and must have been. No, Hilda. I will not believe it--I will not.--And then there is George. If I cease to believe in his honour and his truth, I cease to believe in everything. I cannot believe in Heaven itself unless I believe in my lover. Why, his heart is light about this business: he is not concerned: he laughs at that old man's ravings. Ravings? If Athelstan is right, then his is the hand that has done it all--his--Hilda--Checkley is the man concerned with both crimes.' Hilda shook her head. 'No, Elsie, no. The old man is above suspicion.' 'Why should he be above suspicion more than George? And you ask me on the first breath of accusation to treat George as you treated Athelstan. Well--Hilda, I will not.' 'I make every allowance for you, Elsie. It is a most dreadful business--a heart-breaking business. You may misrepresent me as much as you please-- I will continue to make allowances for you. Meantime, what will you do?' 'Do? What should I do? Nothing, nothing, nothing. I shall go on as if this thing had never happened.' 'Sir Samuel ordered me to warn you most seriously. If you consent to see him again----' 'Consent? Consent? Why should I refuse? In a fortnight he will be my husband and my master, whom I must obey. He calls me his mistress now, but I am his servant. Consent to see him?' She sat down and burst into tears. 'If you see him again,' her sister continued, 'warn him to leave the country. The thing is so certain that in a day or two the proofs will be complete, and it will then be too late. Make him leave the country. Be firm, Elsie. Better still, refuse to see him at all and leave him to his fate. What a fate! What madness!' 'We allowed Athelstan to leave the country. He ought to have stayed. If I advise George at all I shall advise him to stick to his post and see the business through. If he were to leave the country, I would go with him.' 'You are infatuated, Elsie. I can only hope that he may fly the country of his own accord. Meantime, there is one other point----' 'What is it? Pray, don't spare me, Hilda. After what has gone before, it must be a very little point.' 'You are bitter, Elsie, and I don't deserve your bitterness. But that is nothing. At such a moment everything must be pardoned and permitted. The point is about your wedding. It is fixed for the 12th of next month, less than three weeks from to-day. You must be prepared to put it off.' 'Indeed! Because you say that a thing impossible is as good as proved! Certainly not, Hilda.'