Rochester nodded.
“Pauline has disappointed me,” he said. “Never before have I known her instinct at fault. She must know—in her heart she must know that there is something wrong about the fellow. And yet she receives him at her house, and treats him with a consideration which, frankly, shall we say, annoys me?”
“One might remind you,” Lady Mary remarked, “that it is you who are responsible for this young man’s introduction amongst our friends.”
“It is true,” Rochester answered. “I regret it bitterly. I regret it more than ever to-day.”
“Because of Pauline?” Lady Mary asked.
“Because of Pauline, and for one other reason,” Rochester answered, lowering his voice, and turning a little in his seat towards his wife. “Mary, I was unfortunate enough to hear a sentence which passed between you and this person in the hall. I would have shut my ears if I could, but it was not possible. Am I to understand that you have made use of him in some way?”
Lady Mary gasped. This was a thunderbolt to descend at her feet without a second’s warning!
“As a matter of fact,” she said slowly, “he has done me a service.”
Rochester’s face darkened.
“I should be interested,” he said, “to know the circumstances.”