It was Dick's voice. He was reclining in a deck-chair, wrapped around with rugs, and with a book lying in his lap. He was less drawn and pinched than when he first returned, but the change in him was still great enough to give her a sudden wrench at the heart. "Oh, Dick! Dick!" she cried, flinging away her muff and rushing to him. "Oh, my poor Dick! What have they done to you?" He smiled weakly, and allowed her to wind her arms about his neck as she knelt by his side. "They've nearly killed me, Dora. But I'm not dead yet. I'm in hiding here, as I understand father told you. You don't mean to give me the go-by just because people are saying things about me?" "Indeed, no. But the things they're saying, Dick, are dreadful, and I wanted to hear from your own lips that they're not true." "You remember what I said to you before I went away?" "I remember, and I have been loyal to my promise." "Well, you can continue loyal, little one. I am no forger--but I fear they're going to put me into jail, and I must go through with it, as I've had to go through lots of ugly things out there." He shuddered. "But, Dick, if the charge is false, why cannot you refute it?" "Ah, there you have me, Dora. If you force me to explain, I will. It concerns one who is near and dear to me, and I would rather be silent. If, however, there is the slightest doubt in your mind of my innocence, you must know everything." "I--I would rather know," pleaded Dora, whose curiosity was overmastering. "But is your faith in me conditional? Is not my word enough?" "It is enough for me, Dick--but it is the others--father, and--" "Ah! I understand. But what do other people matter--now? You're going to marry Ormsby, I understand." Dora looked down, and her hand trembled in his as she sought for words to explain a situation which was hardly explainable. "Well--you see--Dick--they told me you were dead. We all gave you up as a lost hero." "Yet, before the grass had grown over my supposed grave, you were ready to transfer your love to--that cad." "Not my love, Dick--not my love! Believe me, I was broken-hearted. They said dreadful things about you, and I couldn't prove them untrue, and I didn't want everybody to think--Well, father pressed it. I was utterly wretched. I knew I should never love anybody else, dearest--nobody else in the world, and I didn't care whom I married." It was the sweetest reasoning, and of that peculiarly feminine order which the inherent vanity of man cannot resist. Dick's only rebuke was a kiss. "Well, Dora, I'm not a marrying man, now. I'm not even respectable. As soon as I'm well, I've got to disappear again. But the idea of your marrying Ormsby--" "It's off, Dick--off! I gave him his dismissal the moment I heard--" "Did your father tell you I was alive?" "No, your grandfather told me." "Ye gods! You don't mean to say you've seen him!"