"I have already told you that I know about this letter, as I have already told you that I know—and I will add that I approve!—of all Mrs. Tietjens' actions. . . ." With his hard blue eyes he looked brow-beatingly into Port Scatho's soft brown orbs, knowing that he was sending the message: "Think what you please and be damned to you!"
The gentle brown things remained on his face; then they filled with an expression of deep pain. Port Scatho cried:
"But good God! Then . . ."
He looked at Tietjens again. His mind, which took refuge from life in the affairs of the Low Church, of Divorce Law Reform and of Sports for the People, became a sea of pain at the contemplation of strong situations. His eye said:
"For heaven's sake do not tell me that Mrs. Duchemin, the mistress of your dearest friend, is the mistress of yourself, and that you take this means of wreaking a vulgar spite on them."
Tietjens, leaning heavily forward, made his eyes as enigmatic as he could; he said very slowly and very clearly:
"Mrs. Tietjens is, of course, not aware of all the circumstances."
Port Scatho threw himself back in his chair.
"I don't understand!" he said. "I do not understand. How am I to act? You do not wish me to act on this letter? You can't!"
Tietjens, who found himself, said: