“No--no,” he whispered. “I have given you my promise. You must give me yours. You will do nothing impious.” She gave a wan smile. “I am a girl,” she said. “My courage is as water. I promise you I will trust you, with all my heart--all my heart.” “I shall not fail you--Heaven shall not fail you,” said he, going to the door. He looked back at her. What a lovely picture she made, standing in her white loose gown with its lace collar that seemed to make her face the more pallid! He bowed at the door. CHAPTER XX. He went for supper to a tavern which he knew would be visited by none of his friends. He had no wish to share in the drolleries of Garrick as the latter turned Boswell into ridicule to make sport for the company. He knew that Garrick would be at the club in Gerrard street, to which he had been elected only a few days before the production of “She Stoops to Conquer,” and it was not at all unlikely that on this account the club would be a good deal livelier than it usually was even when Richard Burke was wittiest. While awaiting the modest fare which he had ordered he picked up one of the papers published that evening, and found that it contained a fierce assault upon him for having dared to take the law into his own hands in attempting to punish the scoundrel who had introduced the name of Miss Horneck into his libel upon the author of the comedy about which all the town were talking. The scurrility of his new assailant produced no impression upon him. He smiled as he read the ungrammatical expression of the indignation which the writer purported to feel at so gross an infringement of the liberty of the press as that of which--according to the writer--the ingenious Dr. Goldsmith was guilty. He did not even fling the paper across the room. He was not dwelling upon his own grievances. In his mind, the worst that could happen to him was not worth a moment's thought compared with the position of the girl whose presence he had just left. He knew perfectly well--had he not good reason to know?--that the man who had threatened her would keep his threat. He knew of the gross nature of the libels which were published daily upon not merely the most notable persons in society, but also upon ordinary private individuals; and he had a sufficient knowledge of men and women to be aware of the fact that the grossest scandal upon the most innocent person was more eagerly read than any of the other contents of the prints of the day. That was one of the results of the publication of the scurrilities of Junius: the appetite of the people for such piquant fare was whetted, and there was no lack of literary cooks to prepare it. Slander was all that the public demanded. They did not make the brilliancy of Junius one of the conditions of their acceptance of such compositions--all they required was that the libel should have a certain amount of piquancy.