“You are a beastly idiot,” shouted Bruce. “If I had the power I would give you six months’ hard labor this moment. Who ever threatened to put you or your sister in the dock?”
“You have done your best that way, you know.”
“I?—I have shielded you throughout!”
“I feel that. But your admission shows that I am right. Shielded us from what? From arrest by the police, of course.”
“But why take this precipitate action? What has Lady Dyke’s death to do with your marriage to Miss Browne?”
“That’s it, Bruce. I cannot explain. I must endure silently.”
“Did you give her any reason for your absurd resolution?”
“Yes. I could have no secrets from her.”
“Did you inflict all this wretched story on a woman you loved and hoped to marry?”
“You may be as bitter as you like. That is my idea of square dealing, at any rate. What other pretext could I invite for—for giving her up?”