Those words aroused a suspicion within him. He started, and the thought that flashed through his brain gave him a shock.
She noticed that start, and she turned away. He reached out quickly, gently grasping her arm.
"Wait a moment more, Cassie," he urged. "I want to talk with you a little longer."
She looked back at him with those sad eyes.
"Don't, Frank!" she entreated. "I'm afraid I know what you are going to say. I—I couldn't help it, Frank—indeed, I couldn't! It was for you that I did it!"
"For me!"
He actually staggered. Now his suspicion was swiftly becoming an assurance.
"Yes," she whispered, "for you. It was my duty to go on—my duty to play, no matter how I felt. I had to do it somehow. If I didn't feel like it, then I had to make myself feel like it, and so——"
"And so you—you——"
"I had to do it, I tell you!" she exclaimed, with something like real spirit. "I didn't think you—would—reproach me!"