“I have a great mind to go to Severn himself, and put myself in his hands. But, then, of course, one couldn’t trust him,” he added, regretfully.
“He is a man of honor,” objected the other.
“And when the good name of a woman is at stake, men of honor always lie,” was the stern retort. “Oh would to Heaven you had either never told me this, or else proved it up to the very hilt.”
“I didn’t speak out of any zeal for morality, you may be sure. I had simply heard the common talk, and I naturally assumed that it was true.”
“Why?”
Despencer gave a delicate, self-satisfied smile.
“When there is any doubt, I always believe the worst. I find I am seldom wrong.”
Hammond stepped back, with an indignant gesture. He was beginning to feel ashamed of the discussion.
“And you can stand like that and smile away a reputation!” he exclaimed. “I wonder what they made you of.”
“I believe a chemical analysis of me would yield the ordinary results,” returned Despencer, with unruffled composure. “I rather think that hydrogen is the principal ingredient.”