At that she drew back in a startled way as though his words had gone
beyond her expectations.

"How do I know I can trust you?" she said presently, half to herself,
half to him.

"You can," he said, and it was as though he flung the whole of his
enigmatic and vivid personality into those two words.

"You can," he said again. "Absolutely."

"I must think," she muttered, pressing her hands to her head. "So
much depends--how can I trust you? Why should I--why?"

"Because I'll trust you first," he answered with a touch of
exultation in his manner. "Listen to me and I'll tell you
everything. And that means I put my life in your hands. Well,
that's nothing; I would do that any time; but other people's lives
will be in your power, too--yes, and everything I'm here for,
everything. Now listen."

"Not now," she interrupted sharply. "He may be watching, listening
--he generally is." Again there was no need between them to
specify to whom the pronoun referred. "Will you meet me tonight
near the sweet-pea border--about nine?"

She glided away as she spoke without waiting for him to answer, and
as soon as he was free from the magic of her presence, reaction
came and he was torn by a thousand doubts and fears and worse.