"I'm going to say something dreadful, Billikins," she said.
He looked at her for a moment or two in silence.
Then, "I know what you are going to say," he said.
She shook her head. "Oh, no, you don't, darling. It's something that'll make you frightfully angry."
The faintest gleam of a smile crossed Merryon's face. "With you?" he said.
She nodded, and suddenly her eyes were brimming with tears. "Yes, with me."
He put his hand on her shoulder. "I tell you, I know what it is," he said, with a certain stubbornness.
She turned her cheek for a moment to caress the hand; then suddenly all her strength went from her. She sank down on the floor at his feet, huddled together in a woeful heap, just as she had been on that first night when the safety-curtain had dropped behind her.
"You'll never forgive me!" she sobbed. "But I knew—I knew—I always knew!"