“No; but that was because I did the very last thing I ever thought of doing.”

“And that was?”

“To fall in love with you at the beginning!”

Rachel gave a little start.

“Although you thought me guilty?”

“That made no difference at all.  But I have thought it less and less, until, on the night you appealed first to me and then to Langholm—­on thinking over that night—­it was impossible to suppose it any more.”

Rachel rose, her cheeks divinely red, her lip trembling, her hand outstretched.

“And you fell in love with me!” she murmured.

“God knows I did, Rachel, in my own way,” said Steel.

“I am so glad!” whispered his wife.

THE END