‘You mean that some man has her in his power?’
‘If I’m not mistaken, it comes to that. But for her father’s will, she would have been married long ago, and—she ought to be.’
Having blurted out these words, Crewe felt much more at ease. As Mrs. Damerel’s eyes fell, the sense of sexual predominance awoke in him, and he was no longer so prostrate before the lady’s natural and artificial graces.
‘How do you know this?’ she asked, in an undertone.
‘From some one who had it from Miss. Lord herself.’
‘Are you quite sure that it isn’t a malicious falsehood?’
‘As sure as I am that I sit here. I know the man’s name, and where he lives, and all about him. And I know where the child is at nurse.
‘The child?—Oh—surely—never!’
A genuine agitation possessed her; she had a frightened, pain-stricken look, and moved as if she must act without delay.
‘It’s nearly six months old,’ Crewe continued. ‘Of course that’s why she was away so long.’