"I do want you to believe that she is not to blame. I can't get over it, your saying what you did. You seemed to infer that I had been befooled and——"
"If you had, you are not the first—but let that pass. I own I cannot understand how otherwise you could have presumed to think at all about a lady so high above your head."
"I did presume, sir."
"And——?"
"And I think I showed it, sir."
"Wilfully?"
"No, unconsciously. But it was my fault—not hers."
"And you acquit her, absolutely?"
Tommy was silent, colouring.
"You would like to acquit her, and you hoped I should do so, without the need of more? You have a chivalrous soul, and you may thank God for it, young man; it is a great possession. Respecting Leonore Stubbs, I may be too hard upon her——"