She was thinking of herself, and his answer amazed her.
"Then, let me off that promise I gave you last April. It was a fatal mistake, and it's not fair on Ladybird."
She stifled an exclamation of dismay. It had been one thing to plead with him a year ago; but now it seemed impossible to speak a dozen words on the subject without risk of self-betrayal.
Her silence pricked Desmond to impatience.
"Well," he said, "what's the difficulty? You'll do what I ask, of course?"
"No, I can't. It is out of the question."
A suppressed sound of vexation reached her.
"I thought you cared more for Evelyn than that amounts to," he said reproachfully.
"I do care for her. You know I do."
"Yet you intend to hold out against me?"