"I know, I know. Anne told me, after you'd gone—down." The slip she had so nearly made set the girl sweating—literally. "I was mad, Anthony, mad," she panted. "I couldn't think straight. I nearly jumped over the cliff. I think the shock sent me blind. I'd always grudged her being so much with you. I want you to know the truth. She was always at the back of my mind. And when I saw you together—there, at our window——" She buried her face in her hands. "I know it was vile of me, dear. You see what I'm like. And if, now that you know, you'd like to go to an hotel…"
"But, Valerie, why didn't you give me a chance?"
"I was mad," she wailed, "mad. I loved you so wildly, Anthony, that I was stunned. And, in spite of it all, I loved you just as much. And that made me so furious, I could have torn my hair. I wanted to hurt you cruelly, and when I did, I bruised my own heart."
"But why——"
"I was too proud. You'd dared to touch my pride"—she laughed hysterically—"my precious, sacred pride—my Ark of the Covenant. D'you remember how Uzzah died because he touched the Ark? Well, you had to die…. And now"—she spread out her arms pathetically—"it's the pride that's dead, Anthony. Dead … dried up … shrivelled…. And I know what I'm worth."
She stopped.
Out of the neighbouring silence floated the comfortable note of a wood-pigeon. Clear of the shadow of the green box wall two butterflies flitted and whirled in the hot sunshine, while a fat bumble-bee hummed with excitement before the promise of a tall blue flag.
With his face in his hands, Anthony never moved.
"And that's all I've got to say. When I found I was wrong—well, I didn't know there was such agony in this world…. I deserved it, I know. Don't think I'm complaining. I deserve anything. But … if tears count, then I've paid—some of the score…."
The man's hands were quivering.