“Stop!” he cried and detained her by force. He would not have her go that way. When she would not sit down he in turn grew angry. His eyes shot fire and his speech was most unnaturally rough. If she could not stand misunderstanding, neither could he! She had not heard his whole story, but by the lord Harry, she should! And this time he made himself clear.
“I believe you had told Walter exactly what he repeated to us, and when you consider that the boy is a half-idiot——”
“Thank you,” she said, but he heeded her interruption not at all.
“—I could easily understand that you had some good reason for telling him that or any other story that would come into your head. I did not say I believed you meant it. Woman, do you think I’m a complete fool? I thought perhaps you had lied to him, as I would do if it were necessary; maybe he was violent, I thought, and you had to say something to keep him quiet! The point is—this much I thought you would have the wit to understand—the point is that the suggestion overpowered me, made me conscious of what had been true from the moment I followed you here, but what I did not know until that moment, that—oh, well,” he tried to calm his violence, “what’s the use? You either feel the same as I do, or you don’t; and nothing can force you.... Only I’m sorry.... Sorry.”
“I really believe you were angry.”
“I still am.”
“Did I hurt you?”
“Good Lord!”
“It is so interesting to discover that you can be insulted after all, you who were so insult-proof.”
“I was never so hurt in my life.”