'I deny it altogether,—if you mean disgraceful to me.'
'If it had all been known as it is known now,—as it is known even by your own telling, do you think that I should have consented to your marriage with my sister?'
'Why not?' Robert Bolton shrugged his shoulders. 'And I think, moreover, that had you refused your consent I should have married your sister just the same.'
'Then you know very little about the matter.'
'I don't think there can be any good in going into that. It is at any rate the fact that your sister is my wife. As this demand has been made upon me it was natural that I should wish to discuss it with some one whom I can trust. I tell you all the facts, but I am not going to listen to any fault-finding as to my past life.'
'Poor Hester!'
'Why is she poor? She does not think herself so.'
'Because there is a world of sorrow and trouble before her; and because all that you have told to me must probably be made known to her.'
'She knows it already;—that is, she knows what you mean. I have not told her of the woman's lie, nor of this demand for money. But I shall when she is strong enough to hear it and to talk of it. You are very much mistaken if you think that there are secrets between me and Hester.'
'I don't suppose you will be pleased to hear the story of such a life told in all the public papers.'