But she did not flinch. "I gave it to him--for love," she said.
He made a sudden movement; his features were for a moment convulsed. Then swiftly he controlled himself. "You--love the man!" he said.
She clasped her hands together tightly. Her eyes never wavered for an instant from his. "Yes, I love him," she said.
He flung violently away from her. "Why didn't I destroy him long ago?" he said.
Again he paced the room with sharp, jerky movements. Suddenly he flung two questions over his shoulder. "That was why you changed your mind after sending me that ring? That was what you came to me to the Castle to tell me?"
She bent her head. "I believe that was the reason. But I couldn't have told you that then. I didn't know it myself."
"How long have you known it?"
He was not looking at her, and very piteously she smiled. "It came to me--quite suddenly--in the hall at 'The Anchor' when you told me--you told me--that he wouldn't be such a fool as to believe in me. I left him without seeing him again. And then--and then--just when my uncle died--he came to me. And I knew that he did believe in me after all."
Saltash broke into a laugh--the laugh of a man who hides pain. "It was my doing then! Come, you owe me something after all. But it seems I have been misspending my energies ever since. I thought you wanted to be rid of him."
Again abruptly he came back to her, stopped in front of her. "And so it all came out on the night of the fire," he said.