"Who's to have it?"
"Darcy."
"What!"
"The Secretary told him he might draw it from the bank to-morrow, as, well—as compensation for turning State's evidence."
She laughed a harsh, unmusical laugh.
"You've won," she said. "I will do what you wish—for his sake."
"I believed that you would," he replied gravely, but one eyelid raised just a trifle. She saw it, and turned on him like a flash.
"No!" she cried, "it isn't for that reason! I've some good in me yet, some pride! I tell you, it's not your cleverness that has done this! I wouldn't surrender my good name for the sake of any man in the world! I wouldn't allow the breath of suspicion to linger in the minds of my friends, for the love of your friend, or any other weak fool, whom I can turn round my fingers! No! the reason I surrender is because your last words have told me how I can right myself before all the world, save one man; and I'll consent to sacrifice my reputation in his eyes, because I love him. But for all that, Robert Darcy cannot divorce the woman who bears his name."
"Why not?"
"Because she's not his wife."