"That," said Kate, "was no more than decent."
"Precisely"—he felt himself wonderful; "and I wanted to be no less. She sent for me, I went to her, and that night I left Venice."
His companion waited. "Wouldn't that then have been your chance?"
"To refute Lord Mark's story? No, not even if before her there I had wanted to. What did it signify either? She was dying."
"Well," Kate in a manner persisted, "why not just because she was dying?" She had however all her discretion. "But of course I know that seeing her you could judge."
"Of course seeing her I could judge. And I did see her! If I had denied you moreover," Densher said with his eyes on her, "I'd have stuck to it."
She took for a moment the intention of his face. "You mean that to convince her you'd have insisted or somehow proved—?"
"I mean that to convince you I'd have insisted or somehow proved—!"
Kate looked for her moment at a loss. "To convince 'me'?"
"I wouldn't have made my denial, in such conditions, only to take it back afterwards."