"I am sorry but I can't remember anything. Now you are going to tell me."
He discovered that he was sitting on the edge of the chair and that he was more nervous than he had ever been in his life.
"So I am going to tell you," he said, in a hollow voice, "of course I'll tell you. It is rather difficult, you understand."
She looked at him kindly.
"I know it must be difficult for a man like you to speak of your own achievements. But for once you are going to be immodest," she laughed.
"Well, you see," he began, "I knew van Heerden wanted to marry you. I knew that all along. I guessed he wanted to marry you for your money, because in the circumstances there was nothing else he could want to marry you for," he added. "I mean," he corrected himself hastily, "that money was the most attractive thing to him."
"This doesn't sound very flattering," she smiled.
"I know I am being crude, but you will forgive me when you learn what I have to say," he said huskily. "Van Heerden wanted to marry you——"
"And he married me," she said, "and I am going to break that marriage as soon as I possibly can."
"I know, I hope so," said Stanford Beale. "I believe it is difficult, but I will do all I possibly can. Believe me, Miss Cresswell——"