"Done!" he repeated, with bitter emphasis. "Been the ruin of me, I shouldn't wonder!"
"Alfred!"
"O, yes," he said sullenly. "It's all very well for you to cry Alfred in that tone; but it won't mend matters. I thought you loved me—"
"Have I not proved it, Alfred?" she interrupted, in a tone of sadness.
"But I have found out my mistake," he continued, not heeding her words; "it's always the way. Mr. Sheldrake is right in what he says about women; no man ought to trust them."
"Do you think you ought not to trust me?
"Do you think there is anything in the world that I would not do for your sake? O Alfred, you speak blindly!"
"I am the best judge of that," he returned quickly; "you don't know all. If there is nothing in the world that you would not do for my sake, why should you act in such a manner to-night as to set Mr. Sheldrake dead against me?"
Lizzie did not reply for a few moments; her face was turned towards her lover, as if striving to read his thoughts. She could not see his features distinctly in the gloom of the cab, but his voice was a sufficient index to the trouble that possessed him.
"You speak as if you were afraid of Mr. Sheldrake, Alfred?"