"
"Dear me!" I exclaimed. "You say you want to be my friend, yet you seem
to think I am a kleptomaniac. I can't imagine what I should want with
any dry old document out of the Foreign Office, can you?"
"Yes, I can imagine," said Godensky drily.
"Pray tell me then. Also what document it was. For, joking apart, this
is rather a serious accusation."
"If I make any accusation, it's less against you than du Laurier."
"Oh, you make an accusation against him. Why do you make it to me?"
"As a warning."
"Or because you don't dare make it to anyone else."
"Dare! I haven't accused him thus far, because to do so would brand your
name with his."
"Ah!" I said. "You are very considerate."
"I don't pretend to be considerate--except of myself. I've waited, and
held my hand until now, because I wanted to see you before doing a thing
which would mean certain ruin for du Laurier. I love you as much as I
ever did; even more, because, in common with most men, I value what I
find hard to get. To-night I ask you again to marry me. Give me a
different answer from that you gave me before, and I'll be silent about
what I know."
"What you know of the document you mentioned?" I asked, my heart
drumming an echo of its beating in my ears.
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