And Mistress Waynflete. At the bridge in the afternoon I had noticed that
while danger for her father had stirred her heart to its dearest depth,
danger for herself troubled her not one whit. When I looked at her now
there was no fear in her face, which was calm as the face of a pictured
saint, but I saw questionings there and knew they were of me. Plainly as
if she spoke the words, her great blue eyes were saying, "Am I leaning on
a broken reed?" As she caught my look she turned to Brocton, and I gritted
my teeth and listened.

"So your lordship has found me!" She spoke easily and lightly. "How small
the world must be since it cannot find room for me to avoid you!"

"Say rather, dear mistress, that my love draws me unerringly towards you."

"I thought I gathered that there was another motive for your coming here
to-night."

"Margaret, believe me, I am distraught," he said, not wholly in mockery
it seemed to me.

"So distraught, it seems, that you neglect your plainest duty as an
officer in order to corrupt, if you can, a supposed country maiden, of
whom you have heard by chance. His Grace of Cumberland will be glad to
hear of such devotion."

"Won't you listen to me, Margaret? You know I love you."

"If you were offering me, my lord, the only kind of love which an
honourable man can offer, I should still refuse it. Your reputation,
character, and person are all equally disagreeable to me, and that you