Peter began to recognise that explanation was a less simple affair than it had seemed. If he said that he was no longer engaged but _married_ to the original of that photograph, she would naturally want to know why he had just led her to believe, as he must have done, that he was still a careless and unattached bachelor: she would ask _when_ and _where_ he was married; and how could he give a straightforward and satisfactory answer to such questions? And then another side of the case struck him. As a matter of fact he was undeniably married; but would he be strictly correct in describing himself as being so _in this particular interview?_ It belonged properly to the time he had made the voyage home, and he was certainly not married _then_. In the difficulty he was in, he thought it best to go on telling the truth until it became absolutely impossible, and then fall back on invention. "The fact is, Miss Tyrrell," he said, "that I can't be absolutely certain whether the engagement is ended or not at this precise moment." Her face was alive with the sweetest sympathy. "Poor Mr. Tourmalin!" she said, "how horribly anxious you must be to get back and know!" "Ah!" said Peter, "yes, I--I shall know when I get home, I suppose." And he sighed; for the orange recurred once more to his reluctant memory. "Don't tell me if it pains you too much," she said gently. "I only ask because I do feel so sorry for you. Do you think that, when you do get home, you will find her married?" "I have every reason for believing so," he said. "That will be a terrible blow for you, of course?" "A blow?" said Peter, forgetting himself. "Good gracious me, no! Why _should_ it be? I--I mean, I shall be prepared for it, don't you know!" "Then it's not so bad after all?" she said. "It's not at all bad!" said Peter, with a vague intention of loyalty to Sophia. "I like it!" "I think I understand," she said slowly: "you will not be sorry to find she has married; but she may tell you that she never had the least intention of letting you go so easily?" "Yes," said Peter, "she may tell me that, certainly"--("if she finds out where I've been," he added, mentally). "And," she continued, "what would you do then?" "I suppose," he said--"I suppose I should have to do whatever she wished." "Yes!" she agreed warmly, "you _will_ do that, even if it costs you something, won't you? Because it will be the only right, the only honourable course to take--you will be the happier for it in the end, Mr. Tourmalin, I am sure you will!" After all, it seemed to him that she must understand about the Time Cheques--or, why should she urge him to give them up if Sophia demanded such a sacrifice? "No, I shall not," he said; "I shall miss these times terribly. You don't know what they are to me, or you wouldn't speak like that!"