"No, darling. All that is a foolish fancy. You may rest quite assured that as I have not already listened to the advice of people who are in ignorance of the platonic nature of our friendship, I shall never do so. We have been lovers ever since our teens, and we shall, I hope, always so remain." She sprang upon him, clasping her soft arms around his neck, and, kissing him with a fierce and fervent passion, exclaimed: "Thank you, Dudley! Thank you for those words! You know how fondly I love you--you know that I could not live without frequent sight of you, without your good counsels and guidance--for I am but a woman, after all." "The best and bravest little woman in all the world," he declared in words that came direct from his heart. Then, pressing her closer to him, he went on: "You surely know how deep and complete is my affection, Claudia. The test of it is shown by the fact that were it not for my love for you I should have forsaken you months ago in order to save my reputation--and yours." "It was a foul calumny!" she cried quickly. "The lie was probably started by some woman who envied me. But a scandal is like a snowball-- it increases as it is rolled along. We invited gossip, and lent colour to the report by being seen so much together. I know it too well, and I have regretted it bitterly for your sake. With a public man like yourself a scandal is very apt to put an end for ever to all chances of high position. Knowing that, I, too, tried hard to cut myself adrift from you. Ah! you cannot know, Dudley, what I suffered when I attempted self-sacrifice for your own dear sake. You can never know!" she went on, panting and trembling. "But you misjudged me--you believed me fickle. It was what I intended, for I wanted you to cast me aside and save yourself." "Well?" "They spoke of my flirtations _en plein jour_ at Fernhurst," she continued, looking up into his face with an expression full of passionate love. "The report, with exaggerations, reached you as I had hoped it would, but although it caused you pain it made no difference to your affection. Therefore, I failed, and we were compelled to accept the inevitable." "Yes, Claudia. What I heard from Fernhurst did pain me terribly," he answered very gravely. "Yet I could not believe without absolute proof that you, whom I knew to be an honest, upright woman, would deliberately create a scandal, knowing well that it would be reflected upon me. I knew that you loved me; I knew that our lives were firmly linked the one to the other, and that our mutual confidence and affection were based upon a sure foundation. That is why I refused to give credence to the scandalous gossip." Her small hands trembled with emotion, and as she pressed her lips to his, mutely thanking him for his forbearance and refusal to believe ill of her, she burst into tears.