secret is of all things the most to be avoided, and though her
little hand, in her woman's intuition that all was not right, tried
feebly to free itself, she none the less answered eagerly if half-doubtfully,
"Yes."

"I am sent here under an assumed name--by His Majesty.
Ye--I was indiscreet enough with ye, to tell--to show that I
was other than what I pretend to be, but I felt then and now
that I could trust ye. Ye will keep secret all I say?"

Again Janice, with her eyes on the ground, said, "Yes."

"I must do the king's work, and when 't is done I return to
England and resume my true position, and ye will never again
hear of me--unless--" The man paused, with his eyes fixed
on the downcast face of the girl.

"Unless?" asked Janice, when the silence became more
embarrassing than to speak.

"Unless ye--unless ye give me the hope that by first returning
here--as your father has asked me to do--that I
may--may perhaps carry ye away with me. Ah, Miss Janice,
't is an outrage to keep such beauty hidden in the wilds of
America, when it might be the glory of the court and the toast
of the town."

Again a silence ensued, fairly agonising to the bewildered
and embarrassed girl, which lengthened, it seemed to her, into
hours, as she vainly sought for some words that she might