be--if one told a lie to help a friend, for instance, such a lie might
be forgiven, eh?"

"But--" She was trembling; she looked eagerly into his eyes, into her
cheeks had come a flush, into her eyes the brightness of a new, though
as yet vague, hope. "It--it sounds so impossible!"

"Nothing is actually impossible. Listen, little maid. She sent me here
to you to talk sense, as she put it. That meant she sent me here to ask
you to marry me, and I meant to do it. I think perhaps you know why"--he
lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it--"but I shan't now, I never
shall. Little girl, we're going to be what we've always been, the best
and truest of friends, and I've got to find a way to help you and Tom--"

"Hugh, if you told her that you were married, and not free, she wouldn't
give another thought to opposing Tom and me--it is only because she
wants me to marry you that she opposes Tom! Oh, Hugh, if--if--if you
could, if it were possible!" She was trembling with excitement, and the
sweet colour was coming and going in her cheeks.

"Supposing I did it?" he said, and spoke his thoughts aloud. "Of course
it would be a shock to her, perhaps she wouldn't believe!"

"She would believe anything you said..."

"It is rather a rotten thing to do," he thought, "yet...." He looked at
the bright, eager face, it would make her happy; he knew that what she
said was true--Lady Linden would not oppose Tom Arundel if marriage
between Marjorie and himself was out of the question. It would be making
the way clear for her: it would be giving her happiness, doing her the