One night she came to me, weeping.
She had wearied of service, and had signed to go to Virginia as one of Sir Edwyn Sandys' maids, and at the last moment her heart had failed her.

There had been pressure brought to bear upon me that day,--I had been angered to the very soul.

I sent her away with a heavy bribe, and in her dress and under her name I fled from--I went aboard that ship.

No one guessed that I was not the Patience Worth to whose name I answered.
No one knows now,--none but you, none but you." "And why am I so far honored, madam ?" I said bluntly.
She crimsoned, then went white again.

She was trembling now through her whole frame.