"I am speaking of the girl by whose side
I sat to-night at dinner, who calls herself Miss Fielding, who has--in
plain words--denied that she knows anything of Phyllis Poynton. I want
you to understand this. Whatever she may choose to call herself that
shall be her name. I will not have her questioned or bullied or watched.
If Spencer comes here to do either I have finished with him. I elect
myself her protector. I will stand between her and all suspicion of evil
things."
"She has found a champion indeed!" Pelham exclaimed fiercely. "With Miss
Fielding I have nothing to do. Yet you had better understand this. If
she be Phyllis Poynton she belongs to me, and not to you. She was mine
before you heard her name. I have watched her grow up from a child, I
taught her to ride and to shoot and to swim. I have watched her
listening to the wind, bending over the flowers in her garden. I have
walked with her over the moor when the twilight fell and the mists rose.
We have seen the kindling of the stars, and we have seen the moon grow
pale and the eastern sky ablaze. I have taught her where to look for the
beautiful things of life. She has belonged to me in all ways, save one.
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