"Haven't I? I thought I had; and, if you'll only think a minute, you'll agree with me."
She put her head on one side as if gravely considering the question.
"No. You've no right to ask me that."
"Let me put it differently—since your feelings are sacred, you needn't tell me anything about them. Were you engaged to Hardy before you knew me?"
"That question is even more impertinent than the last."
"I beg your pardon then. Don't answer it, if you don't like to."
He turned away.
"Don't go yet, Ted. I haven't done. Listen. I was thoughtless, I was mistaken" (Audrey was anxious to escape the imputation of a big fault by the graceful confession of a little one), "but I'm not as bad as you think me. You think I cared for Vincent. I didn't. I never cared a straw about him—never. You were the first."
"Was I? Not the last though, it seems."
"Perhaps not. But I deceived myself before I deceived you."