“You cannot prove it.”
“I will prove it yet. But what I have come about now is to ask why you have interfered in this matter.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why did you get Mrs. Pelham to prosecute my husband?”
“I only told her the simple truth. I could not do otherwise—the burden rested too heavy on my soul.”
“Your eyes belie your words. You did not do it for that reason.”
An evil spirit seemed to leap out of Tarbot’s face at that moment, and he came closer to Barbara. Barbara did not repel him. On the contrary, she looked full at him. His eyes quailed for a moment under her gaze; then they were lifted, and she saw the triumph in them.
“You have not answered my question,” she said. “Even granted that there was truth in what you said, why should you be the one to take the initiative?”
“Do you really want to know?” His voice had dropped now to a low tone, his white lips trembled, he came yet closer. Suddenly Barbara felt his hand laid heavily on her shoulder. She did not shrink from his touch.
“Shall I really tell you?” he repeated.