“Of course,” he said at length, “you needn’t talk if you’d sooner not. But you gave me the cut direct in Adexe, and although I may have deserved it, it hurt.”
“I don’t see why it should hurt,” Clare answered coldly.
“Don’t you?” he asked. “Well, you have the right to choose your acquaintances; but I once thought we were pretty good friends and I mightn’t have got better if you hadn’t taken care of me. That ought to count for something.”
Clare blushed, but her eyes sparkled and her glance was steady. “If we are to have an explanation, it must be complete and without reserve. Very well! Why did you change when you were getting better? And why did you hint that I must know you hadn’t stolen the plans?”
Dick studied her with some surprise. He had thought her gentle and trustful, but saw that she burned with imperious anger. It certainly was not acting and contradicted the supposition of her guilt.
“If I did hint anything of the kind, I must have been a bit light-headed,” he answered awkwardly. “You get morbid fancies when you have fever.”
“The fever had nearly gone. You were braver then than you seem to be now.”
“I suppose that’s true. Sometimes a shock gives you pluck and I got a nasty one as I began to remember things.”
Both were silent for the next few moments. Clare’s pose was tense and her look strained, but her anger had vanished. Dick thought she was calmer than himself, but after all, she was, so to speak, on her defense and her part was easier than his. He had forgiven her for robbing him; Kenwardine had forced her to do so, and Dick regretted he had not hidden his knowledge of the deed she must have hated. It was bodily weakness that had led him to show his suspicion, but he knew that if they were to be friends again no reserve was possible. As Clare had said, the explanation must be complete. It was strange, after what had happened, that he should want her friendship, but he did want it, more than anything else. Yet she must be told plainly what he had thought her. He shrank from the task.
“What did you remember?” Clare asked, forcing herself to look at him.