Perhaps, too, youth and beauty weighed in my conclusion more than cool reason would have allowed.

A Martial proverb says-- "Trust a foe, and you may rue it; Trust a friend, and perish through it.
Trust a woman if you will;-- Thrice betrayed, you'll trust her still." As to the general warning, I was wishful to consult Eveena, and unwilling to withhold from her any secret of my thoughts; but equally averse to disturb her with alarms that were trying even to nerves seasoned by the varied experience of twenty years against every open peril..