"It was cattish."
"I don't like your saying that," he put in quickly.
"I'm sorry. Can you imagine Una doing a similar thing?"
"No," he admitted, "but Una has been brought up differently."
Another silence. In spite of the recrudescence of Una we were on dangerous ground. But hope had given me temerity. In another moment he was back to the earlier questions.
"I see no reason why you shouldn't answer me, Roger. I've got to know what all this trouble means. If Una has been imprudent I want to know why, still more so, if she is to suffer as a consequence of it. If Marcia's insinuations are cruel I've got to understand what they mean."
"You may take my word for their cruelty," I said dryly and stopped with compressed lips. He clasped his hands over his knees and looked down into the pool before us.
"Do you think you're quite fair with me, Roger? I give you my confidences and you refuse—"
"Half-confidences, Jerry. My usefulness to you is ended. If you would speak, I could perhaps help you, solve some of your problems, answer your questions. But—"
I paused, throwing out my hands in a helpless gesture.