She shook her head. "No; no one knows yet except Jake, Bunny, and me."
He let her hands go abruptly, and began to pace the room.
She stood motionless, watching him. "Even Jake did not know till it had all gone through," she said, after a moment. "I told him--on the night of the fire."
"What did he say?" Saltash tossed the words over his shoulder. His dark face was drawn, almost distorted.
Maud hesitated. Then: "He asked me why I had done it," she said, in a low voice.
He paused in his walk. "And you struck a bargain with him? He was to let you go your own way for all time, please yourself, live your own life! Wasn't that it?"
Her eyes fell involuntarily before the sudden fire in his. "Oh no!" she said quickly. "Oh no! I didn't want that."
"What then?" He wheeled and came to her, stood before her. "Surely you didn't give him all that for nothing!"
She faced him again steadily. "He wouldn't have taken it," she said.
"Then--" he was standing close to her; his odd eyes gazed, deeply craving, into hers.