Page:Waylaid by Wireless - Balmer - 1909.djvu/297

Rh what am I to do? What did you wish me to do?" she demanded. "Could I have cut you after having spent almost the whole last two days on deck here with you before them all?"

"No; I did not think that you would cut me entirely. But I can't allow you to do this for me, Miss Varris!" he protested desperately. "I would not have stood by like a mummy at Polporru if I had suspected what you were going to do. You had committed yourself before I was clear-headed enough to understand. But now I can't let you do this for me! I—"

"No," the girl agreed with cool assent. "You couldn't let me compromise myself, if it were only on your account. But it is not!" she went on calmly, meeting his eyes. "Wait and you will see. You know that you are innocent and you think that you are the one Mr. Manling is attacking, and that I am merely involved in his attacks on you. But that is not so. The attacks may be through you, but they are aimed at me!"

"At you?"

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