"I'm afraid it would only be a waste of time, for probably the whole thing is so disgustingly simple that everyone has overlooked it. However, the present, as represented by you, is infinitely more interesting; let the old tower guard the secret it has kept so long; who wants to know it?"
"My husband!" she replied.
"Quite so," said the Secretary. "And that reminds me, I hope you reached home quite safely last night, and have felt no ill effects from it."
"None in body," she returned sadly, "but, of course, what I saw could not but add to my distress of mind. Tell me what happened after I left."
"Nothing particular," said Stanley. "We all kept our tempers and were very polite."
"Then there was no disturbance?"
"None whatever; the Colonel was quite amenable to reason and went away quietly."
"But Mr. Kent-Lauriston?"
"Oh, he's too much a man of the world not to know when to hold his tongue."
"You will not tell your hostess? Promise me that. Badly as he has treated me, I am still his wife, and his honour is yet mine."