"Without Bob Hampton?"
The girl glanced uneasily toward him, but he stood motionless in the
gloom.
"Yes--I--I suppose I must."
Hampton rested his hand softly upon her shoulder, his fingers
trembling, although his voice remained coldly deliberate.
"I trust this is entirely satisfactory, Mrs. Herndon," he said. "I can
assure you I know absolutely nothing regarding her purpose of coming to
me tonight. I realize quite clearly my own deficiencies, and pledge
myself hereafter not to interfere with you in any way. You accept the
trust, I believe?"
She gave utterance to a deep sigh of resignation. "It comes to me
clearly as a Christian duty," she acknowledged, doubtfully, "and I
suppose I must take up my cross; but--"
"But you have doubts," he interrupted. "Well, I have none, for I have
greater faith in the girl, and--perhaps in God. Good-night, Naida."
He bowed above the hand the girl gave him in the darkness, and ever
after she believed he bent lower, and pressed his lips upon it. The
next moment the black night had closed him out, and she stood there,
half frightened at she knew not what, on the threshold of her new life.