"Well? Well?"
"Don't be impatient, old chap. Well, she demanded more money, and she gave it as her reason for claiming it that your father—" Durham hesitated, wondering how to explain.
"Go on, please," said Gore. "I am on thorns."
"Do you want the truth?"
"Yes, I do. The whole truth."
"Will you promise to keep your temper?"
"Yes. I know I have a bad one, but——"
"Very good. Don't excuse yourself, Bernard. Well, Mrs. Gilroy claimed to be the wife of your father, and——"
Gore started to his feet in a paroxysm of rage. "The wife of my father," he repeated. "Why, my mother is dead."
"She said your mother was not the wife of——"