She proceeded to tell him how her friends had treated her, and the story that had been going about London. He listened gravely, and looked shocked and pained.
"And you have really heard nothing?"
"Not a syllable. My wife and I only visit among our country neighbours, and I suppose Beckenham people know very little of what is being talked about in London society. Our conversation is chiefly local, or about church matters. I never speak of my clients, so no one would know of my interest in your welfare."
"And my good name, which is more than my welfare. Now, Mr. Harding, advise me. What am I to do?"
The lawyer looked deeply concerned, but with the air of a man who saw no light.
"It is a very difficult case," he said, after a pause. "Has there been anything in the newspapers, any insolent paragraph in those columns which are devoted to trivial personalities? I don't mean to imply that this is trivial."
"No, I have heard of nothing in the newspapers—and I have a friend who is always out and about, and who would have been sure to hear of such a thing."
Mr. Harding was silent for some moments, pulling his beard with his large white hand in a meditative way.
"Have you seen Colonel Rannock since this story got about?" he asked.
"No. Colonel Rannock is in the Rocky Mountains. Ought I to see him if he were in London?"