"Lady Griswold--"
"Lady Griswold! Why do you call me Lady Griswold? Call me Helen! Am I not Helen?"
He was silent. To himself he said,--
"It is going to be more difficult even than I fancied. After all, I almost wish that I had written. Bah! I am a coward! Better to face it once and for all." Then, to her, "Lady Griswold, who once was Helen." Before she could interpose, he added, "There is something I wish particularly to say to you."
"To me?" She caught her breath. "Ronald! What is it?"
He saw she caught her breath. It made him awkward. He began to blunder,--
"I trust that what I am about to say to you will not--cause you to feel annoyed."
"Annoyed! As though anything which you could say to me could cause me to feel annoyed! Ronald, how little you know me after all."
He wished to Heaven that she knew him better.
"I can only hope that, when you have heard me out, you will not think that I have, in any way, misled you."