'I do not see why you tell me this,' she said. 'I knew all you have told me.'

'You did not know it from me,' he said. 'That makes a difference.'

For the first time her face softened a little.

'Yes,' she said, 'I see that.'

'Do you believe what I tell you?'

She turned now and faced him.

'No, Bertie, I am afraid not,' she said. 'It is not reasonable. We all know what sort of a woman Mrs. Emsworth is. You say you were madly in love with her. We know also what a man's code of morality usually is. Is it reasonable?'

'There is a reason,' he said.

'Tell it me, then.'

'It is hard to tell you,' he said. 'But it is this: She loved me. For that reason she wished me not—not to act unworthily. So she laughed at me. She sent me away.'