‘Yes, yes—for some time, as you say, and I have always understood that they were honest people.’
He was so excessively scrupulous that Maria guessed he must have some serious ground for his slight suspicion of the man he was trusting. The question began to interest her, if only as a study of her husband’s character.
‘Really, Diego,’ she said, ‘if you wish me to form any reasonable judgment you must tell me something more than this. What has the man done to make you doubt him?’
Montalto looked at his wife thoughtfully before he answered.
‘I will tell you, but you must not repeat the story to any one, please.’
‘Certainly not.’
‘He once got into some scrape, four or five years ago, and he took a small sum of money to help himself out of trouble.’
‘Oh!’ For the second time Maria was surprised. ‘But that is called——’
‘He confessed it to me,’ Montalto hastened to say before Maria could finish her sentence. ‘He threw himself upon my mercy by a voluntary confession, promising to make up the sum as soon as he could. I thought the matter over for two days and then I forgave him.’