"I give you my word, Jack," she said, leaning toward him and speaking with deep earnestness, "that he has never said a word to me that you might not have heard. Silly compliments, of course, and fool things about his wife's not being to his taste; but nothing worse. Only now—"
Ruthless is man toward woman who may have violated the proprieties, but cruel is the son toward his mother if she may have dimmed the honor which is his as well as hers.
"Now?" he repeated inflexibly.
"Now he has hinted, he has hardly said it, Jack, but he means for me to join him in Europe this summer."
The red leaped into Jack's face and the blaze into his eyes. He rose deliberately from his chair, and stood tall before her.
"Are you sure he meant it?" he asked.
"He put in nasty allusions to the countess, and—Oh, he did mean it, Jack; and it frightened me as I have never been frightened in my life."
"I will horsewhip him in the street!"
She sprang up, and caught him by the arm.
"For heaven's sake, Jack, think of the scandal! I'd have told you long ago, but I was afraid you'd make a row that would be talked about. When I came home from Europe, and realized that all my property is in the hands of trustees so that I couldn't pay, I wanted to tell you; but I didn't know what you'd do. I'm afraid of you when your temper's really up."