She checked herself, and turned quietly from him. Strategy must always be liable to slips from one cause or another, and Mrs. Wade's prudence had, for the moment, yielded to her impulses.
"You think she has all along been unhappy?"
"No, nothing of the kind. But when we have been speaking of the position of women—that kind of thing—I have noticed something strange—an anxiety. I was only going to say that, after having succeeded thus far, it seems a pity to lose everything when a little prudence—"
She waved her hand.
"Do you believe," Denzil asked, "that his story of finding her by mere chance is true?"
"Lilian tells me that only your most intimate friend shared the secret."
"Glazzard? Of course he has nothing to do with it. But some one else may have"——
He walked apart, brooding. Mrs. Wade seated herself, and became thoughtful.
"What sort of a fellow is this?" Quarrier asked, of a sudden.
"It depends who is dealing with him," she answered, meeting his look with eyes full of sympathetic expression. "I read him at once, and managed him. He is too weak for serious villainy. He doesn't seem to have thought of extorting money from you. Lilian was his only object. He would have taken her away by force."