Then she said:
“It’s all right now, then, Percy? That was all, and the cloud’s gone?”
“Quite, absolutely,” he answered, mentally tearing the letters into little bits.
Then she said:
“Percy, of course you never really thought … you never could think that I meant to deceive you in any way. … But supposing Nigel had had any treacherous ideas—let us say, supposing that Nigel, though he’s married, and all that—suppose you found out that he had liked me, and wanted to spoil our happiness? … I mean, suppose you found out that he had been making love to me? … What would you have done?”
“I should have killed him,” replied Percy. Could a man have said anything that would please a woman as much as this primitive assertion?
Bertha threw her arms round his neck. She was perfectly happy. He was in love with her.
CHAPTER XIII
RECONCILIATION
BERTHA decided it was better to curtail Nigel’s visits and make them fewer gradually; she had quite convinced Percy of her sincerity, and he also had come to the conclusion that it would be foolish and infra dig to let the jealousy be suspected. He trusted her again now; and they were both deeply and intensely happy. Being ashamed of the letters, Percy said nothing about them; in a day or two he had come to the conclusion that he would leave it entirely to Bertha’s tact.