She had asked the only person to whom Mr. Loftus had confided his real reasons for his marriage.
It had been on the tip of Doll's tongue all the evening to say: 'Why did you marry him? I would have married you for love.' But he mastered himself.
'It isn't true, is it?' gasped Sibyl.
Doll set his teeth.
'No,' he said. 'It's a lie. He married you for love. He—told me so!'
[CHAPTER X.]
'Pour connaître il faut savoir ignorer.'—Amiel.
'Doll,' said Mr. Loftus, the morning after the ball, when all the guests had departed, except the Pierpoints, 'I do not expect absolute perfection in my fellow-creatures, but it appeared to me that you fell rather below your usual near approach to it last night. What do you think?'