"Well, she won't. I know her well enough for that. You think you know all about her because you're in love with her, but you don't if you imagine she's like that; she—" he stopped and drew a deep breath that was nearer pain than a sigh—"she's too fine for that! I know her better than you do and if I choose to hold her to it I can; she won't listen to you if she feels it to be wrong, and she will."
"And you mean to take advantage of her very goodness to keep her to such a bargain?"
His scorn cut like a knife but Belhaven met it without self-betrayal.
"Why should I give her up to you?" he asked, after a moment.
Charter looked at him attentively. He remembered that Rachel had admitted that Belhaven loved her and he began to suspect now that he would never give her up, that he meant to use his claim upon her to keep her against her will. Such an attitude was almost inconceivable to John.
"You intend to make her stay because you've fallen in love with her?"
"That's no affair of yours."
John glanced across at the old man opposite, who was hunting now for another newspaper on the table. In the distance he saw Count Massena coming through the corridor.
"I'm sorry that this is a place where I can't tell you just what I think of you," he said.
Belhaven did not move. "I can't see that you're in a better situation than I am," he retorted coolly. "You've no right to make love to my wife."