“I don’t know you tonight,” she said sadly. “It almost seems as though you were trying to get rid of me.”
He clasped her tightly in his arms and kissed her gently.
“God forbid,” he muttered.
“Then tell me what it is that is worrying you,” she whispered. “Not a living soul shall ever know. What were the threats of exposure that passed between you and Rizzio. He can’t bear you any illwill because I chose you instead of him. I didn’t mean to listen but I couldn’t help it. What was the menace in his tone to you? What is the danger that hangs over you that puts you in his power? It’s my right to know. Tell me, Cyril. Tell me.”
She felt the pressure of the arm around her relax and the sudden rigidity of his whole body as he drew away.
“I think you must have been mistaken in what you say you heard,” he said evenly. “I told you that it was a personal matter—a club matter in which you couldn’t possibly be interested.”
They were speaking formally now, almost as strangers. She felt the indifference in his tone and couldn’t restrain the bitterness that rose in hers.
“One gentleman doesn’t threaten a club-mate with exposure in a club matter unless—unless he has done something discreditable—something dishonorable——”
The Honorable Cyril bent his head.
“You have guessed,” he said. “He—he is jealous. He wants to humiliate me.”