“I have kept my word just as an Englishman would, madame.”
But Miralda was both perplexed and troubled. “Do you really mean you wrote such a letter, Mr. Donnington?” she asked.
“It is a fact that I wrote a letter addressed to M. Volheno and couched in those identical terms. Under the circumstances it was the best course for me to adopt.”
Miralda caught her breath and winced as if I had struck her.
“Circumstances,” echoed Inez, with a fine scorn.
“But you had pledged your honour not to reveal a word of this,” said Miralda, hesitatingly. “You cannot mean that you broke it deliberately in this way?”
“That is perfectly plain,” declared Inez. “It is only what I told you.”
But Miralda shook her head and laid her hand on Inez’ arm, as she appealed to me. “Mr. Donnington?”
“You know enough of us English, mademoiselle, to judge whether, having given my word, I should break it.”
“There is no doubt,” said Inez, with a contemptuous toss of the head.