With her eyes still wet she told me how fondly she had always loved me, and urged me to think no more of the strange events that had led to Dudley's tragic end. "It is my duty to ascertain the truth and clear up the mystery," she said. "I have promised you a solution of the enigma, and you shall have it some day." "For the present, dearest, I am content to wait," I answered, and in the same breath repeated the question I had asked her months ago--whether she would be my wife. "Alas! I fear you do not trust me sufficiently, Geoffrey," she answered in a low, intense tone, tears still welling in her blue eyes. "I do," I cried. "I know that all the time I have been a jealously brutal fool you have loved me as truly as ever." "I told you long ago that I loved you," she answered earnestly. "Yes, I believe it now, darling," I said. "That is why I ask you to become my wife. Tell me once more that you will." In a whisper, as her handsome head pillowed itself upon, my arm, she repeated her promise, then burst into a torrent of tears, while I, in joyful ecstasy, still held her in my arms. It was an idyllic evening, this first one of love and trust; a brief dream such as one has in the moment before waking. Bowing before my idol, I had humbly acknowledged myself wrong, and my well-beloved had frankly forgiven and forgotten. There was a long silence, deep and impressive, broken only by the confused sound from the street that came in through the open window. Then, when she stirred again and raised her head, I told her of my position at the Foreign Office, and the probability of my appointment to a diplomatic post abroad. She listened, her clear, trusting eyes fixed upon me. She, too, was ambitious. "It's a great responsibility for any woman," she said at last, "to think she is to be part of a career. I will help you, my darling," then she buried her face again in my coat-collar, protesting fervently, "I will never, never allow myself to hinder you; but will do my utmost to help you to success, only you must have patience with me." Suddenly she raised her head again, continuing, "I know there is one strange episode in my past that is a mystery to you, nay, to all. My misfortune is that I am unable yet to reveal the truth, because I fear the consequences of such disclosure. Some day you shall know everything, but until then think only of me as the woman who loves you with all her soul." She spoke with a terrible earnestness, her slim fingers clutching my arm convulsively, and as I gave my promise to regard her always as a pure and upright woman, and forget the mystery surrounding her, I sealed our compact with a long, passionate kiss.