"Everything," said Herbert. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"For running away? Oh, Bertie, you cannot have heard all."

"For forcing you to write me that letter--can you ever forgive me?"

"Oh, the letter? Oh, Bertie, we were both wrong--terribly wrong. But we were saved."

"Yes, we were saved. Thank God--thank God!"

"That was my first cry, Bertie, when I felt that I was safe--that we both had been saved: Thank God! It seemed as if a miracle had been done to save us."

"I spent the night praying that you might be kept away from me, Bertie --away for ever and ever. I felt that I was miserably weak; I felt that I could not trust myself; but now that you are here beside me again I feel strong. Oh, Bertie, we know ourselves better now than we did a week ago--is it only a week ago? It seems months--years--a lifetime!"

"Yes, I think that we know each other better now, Ella. That night aboard the yacht all the history of the past six months seemed to come before me. I saw what a wretch I had been, and I was overwhelmed with self-contempt."