"I did not come to see your wife; you know it."
Weldon had unlatched the door, and the two men passed into the sitting-room. There Weldon, with his hat unremoved, dropped in a chair, and eyed his visitor with affected curiosity.
"I say, Trissy, you're drunk."
"I am come," Tristrem continued, and this time as he spoke his voice seemed to recover something of its former gentleness, "I am come to ask whether, in the purlieus of your heart, there is nothing to tell you how base you are."
Weldon stretched himself languidly, took off his hat, stood up, and lit a cigarette. "Have an Egyptian?" he asked.
"Do you remember," Tristrem went on, "the last time I saw you?"
Weldon tossed the match into an ash-receiver, and, with the cigarette between his teeth, sprawled himself out on a sofa. "Well, what of it?"
"When I saw you, you had just contracted a debt. And now you can liquidate that debt either by throwing yourself in the river or——"
"Charming, Triss, charming! You have made a bon mot. I will get that off. Liquidate a debt with water is really good. There's the advantage of foreign travel for you."
"Do you know what became of your victim? Do you know? She went abroad and hid herself. Shall I give you details?"