"
"Depends what you did it for," said Jim.
She fell suddenly silent, slowly twisting the ring on her finger. "He
knew why," she said at last in a very low voice. "In fact--in fact he
asked me for that reason."
"And the reason still exists?"
She bent her head. "Yes."
"A reason you are ashamed of?" pursued the doctor.
She did not answer, and he drew his great brows together in deep
thought.
"You don't propose to take me any further into your confidence?" he
asked at last.
She made a quick, impulsive movement. "You--you--I think you know."
"Will you let me tell you what I know?" he said.
She shrank perceptibly. "If--if you won't make it too hard for me."
"I can't answer for that," he returned. "It depends entirely upon
yourself. My knowledge does not amount to anything very staggering
in itself. It is only this--that I know a certain person who would
cheerfully sacrifice all he has to make you happy, and that you have
no more cause to fear persecution from that person than from the man
in the moon."
He paused; but Muriel did not speak. She was still absently turning
her engagement ring round and round.
"To verify this," he said, "I will tell you something which I am sure
you don't know--which in fact puzzled me, too, considerably, for
some time. He has already sacrificed more than most men would care to
venture in a doubtful cause.
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