‘Listen: didn’t you know perfectly well that this must be the end of it?’
‘Do you suppose I thought you utterly shameless and cruel beyond words?’
‘I suppose I am both. It was a moment of desperate temptation, though. I had dined at the Ruperts’—you remember—and it seemed to me there was no mistaking the girl’s manner.’
‘Don’t call her a girl!’ broke in Dora, scornfully. ‘You say she is several years older than yourself.’
‘Well, at all events, she’s intellectual, and very rich. I yielded to the temptation.’
‘And deserted Marian just when she has most need of help and consolation? It’s frightful!’
Jasper moved to another chair and sat down. He was much perturbed.
‘Look here, Dora, I regret it; I do, indeed. And, what’s more, if that woman refuses me—as it’s more than likely she will—I will go to Marian and ask her to marry me at once. I promise that.’
His sister made a movement of contemptuous impatience.
‘And if the woman doesn’t refuse you?’