Lady Horrocks nodded twice thoughtfully, and with a faint smile.
“How did you find this out?”
“I have known it long enough. Her sister Virginia told me before they went away. I had a suspicion all at once, and I forced her to tell me.”
“And if you are sent for shall you go?”
Widdowson seemed to mutter an affirmative, and added,—
“I shall hear what she has to tell me, as she promised.”
“Is it—is it possible—?”
The lady’s question remained incomplete. Widdowson, though he understood it, vouchsafed no direct answer. Intense suffering was manifest in his face, and at length he spoke vehemently.
“Whatever she tells me—how can I believe it? When once a woman has lied how can she ever again be believed? I can’t be sure of anything.”
“All that fibbing,” remarked Lady Horrocks, “has an unpleasant look. No denying it. She got entangled somehow. But I think you had better believe that she pulled up just in time.”