Thus a close intimacy had sprung up between them, and Hugh had naturally regarded his father’s friend with entire confidence.

“You admit that you are not telling me the whole truth, Hugh,” remarked the girl after a long pause.  “It is hardly fair of you, is it?”

“Ah! darling, you do not know my position,” he hastened to explain as he gripped her little hand more tightly in his own.  “I only wish I could learn the truth myself so as to make complete explanation.  But at present all is doubt and uncertainty.  Won’t you trust me, Dorise?”

“Trust you!” she echoed.  “Why, of course I will!  You surely know that, Hugh.”

The young man was again silent for some moments.  Then he exclaimed: 

“Yet, after all, I can see no ray of hope.”

“Why?”

“Hope of our marriage, Dorise,” he said hoarsely.  “How can I, without money, ever hope to make you my wife?”

“But you will have your father’s estate in due course, won’t you?” she asked quite innocently.  “You always plead poverty.  You are so like a man.”

“Ah!  Dorise, I am really poor.  You don’t understand—­you can’t!”

“But I do,” she said.  “You may have debts.  Every man has them—­tailor’s bills, restaurant bills, betting debts, jewellery debts.  Oh!  I know.  I’ve heard all about these things from another.  Well, if you have them, you’ll be able to settle them out of your father’s estate all in due course.”

“And if he has left me nothing?”

“Nothing!” exclaimed the handsome girl at his side.  “What do you mean?”

“Well——­” he said very slowly.  “At present I have nothing—­that’s all.  That is why at Monte Carlo I suggested that—­that——­”

He did not conclude the sentence.

“I remember.  You said that I had better marry George Sherrard—­that thick-lipped ass.  You said that because you are hard-up?”

“Yes.  I am hard-up.  Very hard-up.  At present I am existing in an obscure lodging practically upon the charity of a man upon whom, so far as I can ascertain, I have no claim whatsoever.”

“The notorious thief?”

Hugh nodded, and said: 

“That fact in itself mystifies me.  I can see no motive.  I am entirely innocent of the crime attributed to me, and if Mademoiselle were in her right mind she would instantly clear me of this terrible charge.”

“But why did you go to her home that night, Hugh?”

“As I have already told you, I went to demand a reply to a single question I put to her,” he said.  “But please do no let us discuss the affair further.  The whole circumstances are painful to me—­more painful than you can possibly imagine.  One day—­and I hope it will be soon—­you will fully realize what all this has cost me.”

The girl drew a long breath.

“I know, Hugh,” she said.  “I know, dear—­and I do trust you.”

They halted, and he bent and impressed upon her lips a fierce caress.