“What!”

This time he heard. But her words, conflicting with his thoughts, rolled over together. In this mental confusion he stared.

“What!”

“It is as I tell you.”

“You swear it?”

“Do I need to?”

Still he stared. Truth which acts on us and in us like a chemical precipitate was disclosing to him her whiteness and its own.

“Do I?” she repeated.

“No, by God, you don’t. I believe you. I can’t help myself. It is in your eyes.”

He paused and awkwardly added: