"There was no condition."
"Do you know all the circumstances? Did he tell you?"
"No, he did not tell me. He said that he left you suddenly for a reason, and when he wished to return you would not have him. That was all. He never spoke but kindly of you."
"He was a good man."
"He is a good man."
"I will tell you why he left me. He learned, no matter how, that I had not been married, as I said I had."
She looked up, as if expecting him to speak. He said nothing, but stood with eyes fixed on the floor.
"I admitted, too, that I kept alive the memory of a man who had played an evil part in my life; that I believed I cared for him still, more than for my husband."
"Ida, for God's sake, you do not mean"—
"Yes, I meant you then. But when he went away, when he proved himself so noble, I changed. I learned to hate the memory of the other man. But he came back too soon. I said things madly—things I did not mean. He went again. And then afterward I knew that I loved him."