“Lawrence,” she said quietly, “will you answer me one question?”

“Nay, a dozen, if I can, Norah.”

“One will be enough. Has the accusation I made against Lady Gwendolyn that day at the ‘Langham’ ever troubled you in the slightest degree?”

He reflected before he answered:

“I don’t think it has. I have such full faith in my wife, you see.”

“Still, you know me well enough to understand that I should not make a statement of this sort unless I believed it to be true.”

“No; but we are all liable to error, Norah.”

“And you may as well add that a person of my impulsive temper is doubly liable. I certainly did think that Lady Gwendolyn had been the cause of my poor brother’s death, and had destroyed him by her cruel coquetries; and, as I am not in the habit of bridling my tongue, or disguising my feelings, I told her plainly what I thought. But since then I have discovered my mistake.”

“Go on,” he said eagerly.

She pointed to the letter on the table.