"Prevaricate not, nor think to blind me," he answered. "The facts are of public notoriety, and it will not profit to deny them."
"If I deny them I am not to be believed, and the denial would only bring down upon my head additional insult; then why tempt so hard a fate? Tell me what you would have me say, and I will endeavor to conform to your wishes."
"Woman!" said Dudley, sternly, "trifle not. Answer me—aye, or nay."
"Thou hast thine answer," said the lady, with some spirit, as if goaded into resistance by the severity of the treatment.
"I am content," said Dudley. "Thou knowest that falsehood were in vain."
"Madam," now took up Endicott the word, "we have not as yet been favored with your name."
"It is Geraldine De Vaux."
"Hast never another?"
"What mean you, sir!" she exclaimed, with a startled air. "What other name?"
"I mean, plainly—is not thy name Mary Grove?"