"But you said you didn't believe ..." he began; but Pell came mercilessly back at him!
"I didn't—then. The time was inopportune."
Uncle Henry clutched the arms of his chair. "Ooooooh! The dirty bum!" he yelled.
Pell went on, inexorably. "But now that she herself has admitted it, and—"
"Admitted it!" Gilbert cried, his rage now at the boiling point.
"Yes! By everything she has said and done to-day. My dear fellow," with a subtle change of tone, "God knows I am no prude." He smiled a bland smile. "But there are limits to what any husband can endure." His lips became thin and terrible; his eyes were gleaming slits.
Gilbert was aghast. He saw no solution of this painful situation; no safety for Lucia—his thoughts were all of Lucia.
"You don't think that!" he said, "You couldn't possibly think that! Oh, my God!"
Morgan Pell sneered at him. "I know what I would have done, in your place and with your opportunities."