“Were you aware that it was a shorter way to reach Orchards than going back by way of Rosemont?”
“Oh, yes; it was about three miles shorter.”
“Why didn’t you take it?”
“Because when we were in Lakedale we had no idea of going to the cottage. We didn’t think of it until long after we had returned to Rosemont.”
“But why didn’t you think of it before? You knew that in all probability Mrs. Bellamy was waiting for your husband at the cottage, didn’t you?”
The question was asked in tones of the gentlest consideration, but the sentinel watching from the dark eyes was suddenly alert.
“No, I didn’t know that at all. In the first place, I wasn’t sure that she had gone there; in the second place, I wasn’t sure that she had waited, even if she had gone.”
“There was no harm in making sure, was there?”
“I thought there was. My idea in seeing Stephen was to get him to talk to Mimi; I hadn’t the faintest desire to take part in the humiliating and painful scene that would have been inevitable if I had confronted her.”
“I see. Still, you were willing to confront her in her own home, weren’t you?”