Page:A courier of fortune (1904).djvu/81

Rh "No, no; but I fear I don't understand. I have been unmaidenly and forward. But I did not know. You have said nothing of this obstacle in your letters to my uncle or to me. I thought it was settled. But I was wrong, of course; we all have been. Yet I thought when you came with no word—oh, cousin, was it manly or honourable of you not to tell me at once, not to check me? Oh, I know not what to say."

He was as much disturbed by the change in her as he was troubled by the sight of her distress and puzzled by her words.

"Obstacle? What obstacle? What have I said to disturb you thus?" he asked. "I would do anything in the world for you."

"You shame me, cousin."

"Gabrielle, on my honour, I know not what you mean?" he cried, with whole-hearted earnestness.

She rose then and looked at him, with a great effort to be calm.

"As God is my judge, I would give my life to serve you," he protested passionately. "I repeat, I know not what you mean."

"What your purpose may be, I cannot guess; but matters have gone too far for us to fence with words or feign ignorance of facts. You can have had but the one purpose in coming to Morvaix and to Malincourt. You have already expressed it openly in your letters. It is to further my dead parents' wish for our marriage."

He fell back a pace in his intense wonderment, and an exclamation of astonishment rushed to his lips only to be checked with a supreme effort. But she saw the look and noted the gesture, and her pride took instant offence.

"I will leave you, monsieur; perhaps you will explain this obstacle to my uncle with more candour than you have deemed necessary to show to me."