“Well, well, the murder’s out now, and one sees things differently. I knew what your wife’s influence over you was, and I thought if I breathed a word it would get to her ears and set her clamouring for her pitiful title. A man’s a weak thing in a beautiful woman’s hands, as no one knows better than I. I’ll do what I can for you; I’m bound to, and I will. What do you propose to do?”
“Resign my commission, give back every cursed penny I can, and get employment abroad to work off the rest.”
Lord Florencecourt looked up, startled.
“Resign your commission! You mustn’t think of that. The worst’s over now; it is I, not you, who have anything to fear from the devil. Give up your house, of course; I’ll allow you five hundred, six hundred a year. You are quite free from any obligation, for I acknowledge your wife is my daughter, and her mother would force me in any case to contribute to her support. Do you see?”
“Quite. I accept your offer, Colonel, in this way. You shall allow Nouna five hundred a year until we have cleared off every farthing we have spent under a misapprehension. But for the future my wife and I will live on my earnings and what I have besides of my own.”
“But why leave the army?”
“Cowardice, partly. I feel disgraced and beaten down, and I’ve lost heart for the old ambitions. And—I have other reasons. Over here there is a constant risk of Nouna’s meeting——”
He hurried this last sentence, but stopped abruptly in the middle of it.
“You might exchange. Come now, that would solve all difficulties. Nobody would know the style you used to keep here, and you could make a fresh start quietly.”
George considered the proposal for a few seconds, and then shook his head.