At that abruptly Nick broke in. "Before you go any farther—has he ever made love to you before?"
She answered him because she had no choice. "Yes, Nick. But I always hated him."
"And you didn't tell me," he said.
There was no note of reproach in his tone, yet in some fashion it hurt her.
"Nick—darling, you—you've only got one arm," she said. "And he's such a great, strong bully."
Nick uttered a sudden fierce laugh. His hand was clenched. "You women!" he said, and for some reason Olga felt overwhelmingly foolish.
"Well, finish!" he commanded. "No half-measures, mind! Just the whole truth!"
And Olga stumbled on. She repeated with quivering lips Hunt-Goring's story of the taint in Violet's blood, of the tragedy that had preceded her birth.
"Nick," she said, turning piteous eyes upon his face, "I know it must be partly true, but do you think it is really quite as bad as that? I believed it at the time. But—but—perhaps—"
He shook his head. "It's true," he said briefly.