Rhoda was aghast at the effrontery of this confession. There might be some truth in it, though she could not but think that his extravagance was quite as likely to have led up to the robbery as that of Lady Sarah.
In any case, his excuse was, of course, thoroughly bad.
“You presume to tell me you were in the right in helping a wife to rob her husband!” she cried.
“In the circumstances, what else could I do?”
“Anything else, of course,” Rhoda retorted contemptuously. “Sir Robert is the most generous man in the world.”
Jack raised his eyebrows.
“Oh, have you found him so?” sneered he.
Rhoda grew red, but did not affect to notice the sneer.
“He is quite unable to deny his wife anything she asks for. If she had gone to him with a full statement of the amount she wanted, he would have given it to her at once.”
“Your experience of him, unfortunately, scarcely tallies with that of his wife,” said Jack coolly. “She begged him to let her have some money, and he refused.”