He paused, but there was no answer from Laura except a half-stifled sob.
‘Laura, can you pity and pardon me? For God’s sake say that I am not utterly despicable in your eyes!’
‘Despicable? no!’ she said, lifting up her tear-stained face, ashy pale, and drawn with pain, ‘not despicable, John. You could never be that, in my eyes. But wrong, oh, so deeply wrong! See what shame and anguish you have brought upon both of us! What was Jasper Treverton’s fortune worth to either of us, that you should be guilty of a fraud in your endeavour to gain it for me?’
‘A fraud?’
‘Yes. Do you not see that our first marriage, being really no marriage, was an imposition and a sham—that neither you nor I have a right to a sixpence of Jasper Treverton’s money, or an acre of his land. All is forfeited to the hospital trusts. We have no right to live in this house. We possess nothing but my income. We can live upon that, Jack. I am not afraid to face poverty with you; but I will not live an hour under the weight of this shameful secret. Mr. Clare and Mr. Sampson must know the truth at once.’
Her husband was kneeling at her feet, looking up at her with a radiant face.
‘My love, my dearest, you have made me too happy. You do not shrink from me—you do not abandon me. Poverty! No, Laura, I am not afraid of that. I have feared only the loss of your love. That has been my ever-present fear. That one great dread has sealed my lips.’
‘You can never lose my love, dear. It was given to you without the power of recall. But if you want to regain my esteem, you must act bravely and honourably. You must undo the wrong you have done.’
‘We will hold a council to-night, Laura. We will take Edward Clare’s cards out of his hands.’
‘What? Does Edward know?’