Miss Mason looked at Barnabas. Perhaps a man’s judgment in the matter would be of use.
“Mrs. Preston is right,” said Barnabas. “If she had told him before she married him it would have been different. Now—— You see, I know her husband.”
“But——” said Miss Mason, and stopped. She did not know what to say. For her own sake she wanted silence. Yet to her candid mind further deceit was terribly distressing.
Sybil looked from one to the other of them. She felt almost as if she were in the presence of a jury awaiting their verdict.
“May I,” said Barnabas, “say just how the situation strikes me?”
“Please do,” said Sybil quietly. She leant back a little in her chair.
“It seems to me,” said Barnabas, “that you cannot only look at the right or wrong of the matter entirely from your own point of view. There are two other people to be considered—your husband and the child. Knowing Luke I fear it is a matter in which he would not forgive the deceit. He is not a man who would see any extenuating circumstances in the case. He would not even understand your having been first persuaded into a secret marriage.”
“Can you understand it?” asked Sybil quickly. There was a little flush of colour in her face.
“I can,” said Barnabas. “I can see the whole situation very clearly—your fear of your parents’ anger and Philippe’s persuasions. It would not be easy for a woman who loved Philippe to withstand him. I, who knew him, can understand that. Luke did not know him?”
“Yes?” said Sybil as he stopped. She looked at him intently. “But,” she went on, “you don’t understand the rest of my action?”