Hawke paused, still keeping his pleading eyes fixed upon the
fluttering-hearted woman's face. "Miss Nadine sees absolutely no
one!" murmured the governess, "and, of course, I never leave her.
It is a very exacting and laborious position, this charge which I
now fill, and of course the life is a very lonely one, though Nadine
is an angel!" enthusiastically cried Miss Justine.

"And so," earnestly said Major Alan Hawke, "I am absolutely prevented
from seeing you, unless you will trust yourself to me, and come
here again." The frightened woman cast a glance at the unfamiliar
loveliness of the secluded garden, with the hidden kiosques, sacred
to Ram Lal's furtive amours.

"I dare not!" she said, with trembling lips. "I would like to come,
but--"

"Listen!" said Alan Hawke, softly taking her unresisting hand, "I
will confide in you. I must, even to-day, go to Hugh Johnstone's
house. He has bidden me to a private interview. And he gives
a tiffin in my honor. I have known him in past years. He does not
as yet know of my official position. My duties are secret. My very
honor forbids me to divulge it. I dare not openly acknowledge an
acquaintance with you, with your sister. It rests with you that
we meet again, for my sake, for your own sake, for your sister's
sake. I cannot lose you for a mere quibble."

There was a genuine alarm in Justine Delande's voice as she started
up, crying out, "You come to us to-day?"

"Precisely!" gravely said Major Hawke, as he tried a long shot.