"Explain? yes, doubtless you would explain, if I would sully my ears by listening; but I will not. Moreover, see to it that you never dare to cross my path again."
"I dare anything," he cried, "anything, everything. No, you shall not get away from me so easily. Oh, yes, I remember, and you remember, too, the promise which you made last night. You said then, that whatever might happen, you would never marry another man. Surely you, with your fine notions, will never break your promise?"
He was beside himself, or he would never have uttered such words. He saw, moreover, that the arrow had gone home; a look of pain shot across her face.
"Oh, yes, I've got you," he went on wildly, "and I will hold you to your words, too. If ever you dream of marrying another man, I will tell him what you said. Yes, I will do that and more, and——"
"Let me pass," she cried; "as though I could ever dream of marrying an honourable man after promising to be the wife of such as you. Stand aside, or I will call the servants."
But she had no need to make this threat. Her words had crushed him too completely. He obeyed her like a frightened child, and then watched her with a dazed look in his eyes as she walked out of the room.
"Now go," said John Castlemaine, as he rang the bell. A servant appeared, and Radford Leicester walked out of the house with the black night of hell in his heart.
The carriage was still waiting, and both men entered it without a word.
"Where to, sir?" asked the coachman.
But Leicester did not reply, indeed he did not know the man had spoken.