He had hoped that she might not hear of his trouble, knowing how seldom she interested herself in the contents of a paper.
"Who has been telling you?" he asked.
"Who but himself at first, and when he would not satisfy me I ordered Kathleen to read it to me," she answered. "Oh, Denis, the shame of it! That anyone should dare say that you were a divorced man!"
"It's the truth, mother," he answered through his teeth.
"You, the son I was always proud of, to be going into a place like that! It is a shame that there should be such iniquitous places in a Christian land!" she cried.
Denis put his hand very gently on her shoulder in a caressing manner that was out of keeping with his accustomed attitude.
"See here, mother," he answered, "a man can only be judged in the light of the Eternal Truth. In that light I am innocent."
"Then why not prove them liars that have spoken these things against you?" she asked.
"Someone had to suffer, and I could best bear it. I am a man, a strong, hard piece of humanity, and well able to stand a few bad names. But there are others, weak and frail, who would be destroyed by the scandal of bitter tongues. Better the world should abuse me than them. Some day I shall stand innocent in the eyes of the world as in the sight of God."