Her eyes were fixed on his.
“Do you mean—you will never be able to?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes, I mean that.”
“Answer me one more question, Garth. Is it that you cannot—or will not clear yourself?”
“I must not,” he replied steadily. “I am not the only one concerned in the matter. There is some one to whom I owe it to be silent. Honour forbids that I should even try to clear myself. Now you know all—all that I can ever tell you.”
“Who is it?” The question leaped from her, and Garth's answer came with an irrevocability of refusal there was no combating.
“That I cannot tell you—or any one.”
Sara's mouth twitched. Her face was very white, but her eyes were shining.
“And you have borne this—all these years?” she said. “You have known that you could clear yourself and have refrained?”
“There was no choice,” he answered quietly. “I took on a certain liability—years ago, and because it has turned out to be a much heavier liability than I anticipated gives me no excuse for repudiating it now.”