"You've kept something back," she panted, gripping his fingers frantically, "the greatest thing. Speak about it. Anything is better than this silence. Don't you remember your promise before you went—you would tell me everything—everything! Well?"
Her words pierced the armor of his own self-deceit. The bare room seemed suddenly full of glowing images of Fenella. His face was transfigured.
"I haven't told you very much about Mrs. Weatherley," he said, simply. "She is very wonderful and very beautiful. She was very kind to me, too."
Ruth leaned forward in her chair; her eyes read what she strove yet hated to see. She threw herself suddenly back, covering her face with her hands. The strain was over. She began to weep.
CHAPTER X
AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR
Mr. Weatherley laid down his newspaper with a grunt. He was alone in his private office with his newly appointed secretary.
"Two whole days gone already and they've never caught that fellow!" he exclaimed. "They don't seem to have a clue, even."
Arnold looked up from some papers upon which he was engaged.