At that he laughed. "Oh, don't spare me."
She still hesitated.
"What is it?"
She spoke low.
"If you had been here—that night—Peggy would not have died."
He drew a quick breath. "What makes you think that?" he said quietly.
"She overstrained her heart with crying. As you know. She was crying for you. And you were not there. Nothing would make her believe that you were not dead."
She saw the muscles of his face contract with sudden pain.
He looked at her gravely. The look expressed his large male contempt for her woman's cruelty; also a certain luminous compassion.
"Why have you told me this?" he said.