"You are very happy, Anne?" he said gently.
"Very happy."
"I am glad. I wanted to see what a true marriage can mean——" He hesitated. There was something that he had come to tell her. It sickened him, and yet it pleased him, as he knew it would please her. "Miss Fersen and Mr. Barclay were married this afternoon," he said.
She looked up. The sun had gone down behind the high trees in the compound, and the room was full of fast-deepening shadows. They were in her eyes, and he could not read their expression.
"You married them, Owen?"
He heard the subdued reproach in her voice.
"I couldn't help myself. What power had I to refuse? But I confess I hated it. It seemed horrible to me—as though I had taken part in an ugly farce. It was quite private—no one knew about it. The banns have been up sometime."
Her lips were set in a hard line.
"Perhaps they were ashamed," she said. "I only hope they will leave Gaya. It is terrible to have them here. I think she wanted to get hold of Tristram. Wasn't she with him that day at Heerut?"
She spoke carelessly. He wondered if she knew or only guessed.