Cheerful and unsuspicious, he complied.
“Wonderful night!” he remarked, looking with grateful eyes at the river.
She clutched his arm.
“Oh, Lionel!” she cried, and he was startled to hear a sob in her voice.
“What’s wrong, dearest girl?” he asked anxiously, trying to see her face in the dark.
“That awful—that dreadful, disgusting woman——” she said, in a broken voice. “Oh, Lionel! You can’t imagine!...”
“Did she say anything to upset you, old girl?”
“It’s not that—— It’s ... I didn’t know——”
She dried her eyes and spoke more calmly, all her courage, all her pride, all her love impelling her. She held out the ring, glittering marvellously in the light of a street lamp.
He stared at it in stupefaction.