"Nor made her think that you would ask her? That comes to the same thing, Captain De Baron."
"How am I to answer that? How am I to tell it all without seeming to boast. When it first came to pass that we knew ourselves well enough to admit of such a thing being said between us, I told her that marriage was impossible. Is not that enough?"
"I suppose so," said Lady George, who remembered well every word that Gus Mildmay had said to herself. "I don't know why I should enquire about it, only I thought——"
"I know what you thought."
"What did I think?"
"That I was a heartless scoundrel."
"No, never. If I had, I should not have,—have cared about it. Perhaps it has been unfortunate."
"Most unfortunate!" Then again there was a pause, during which he went on smoking while she played with her mallet. "I wish I could tell you everything about it;—only I can't. Did she ever speak to you?"
"Yes, once."
"And what did she say?"