"One whom I should have counted trustworthy."
"When did you hear the tale?"
"The year I was in Valenciennes."
Jack recalled Roy's description of Ivor's return from that absence, and he began to grasp the state of the case.
"When did you hear last from Polly herself?"
"Over two years ago. A letter which had been written before the date when she was said to have become engaged."
The last remnants of Jack's anger died out. Two years of silence following upon such a report!
"You have not writ yourself to Polly this great while?"
"How could I—not speaking of this? And—how speak of it, if it were not true?"
Silence again. Jack observed slowly, as he watched the other's colourless lips—