Borrowdean smiled.
"A woman," he said, "who is fond of a man is apt to have her judgment a little warped. The Duchess is a woman of fine perceptions and sound judgment. But she is attracted by Lawrence Mannering. She admires him. He is the sort of person who appeals to her imagination. These feelings might easily become, if they have not already developed into, something else. And I tell you again that I do not believe your story would stop her from marrying him."
She leaned a little towards him.
"What would?" she asked, earnestly.
He hesitated.
"Well," he said, "I think I could tell you that!"
She held up her hand.
"Stop, please," she said. "I want to ask you something else. Are you Lawrence's enemy?"
"I? Why, of course not!"
"Then where do you come in?" she asked, bluntly. "You couldn't persuade me that it is interest on my account which brings you here and makes you tell me these things. You don't care a button for me."