"Well, you see how easy it's been."
"Yes." She paused. "The truth isn't going to be easy either."
"Let's have it, all the same, Kitty."
"You're going to have it." She paused again, breathing hard. "Have you never wondered why the people here avoided me? You know they thought things."
"As if it mattered what they thought."
"They were right. There was something."
She heard him draw a deep breath. He, too, leaned forward now, in the same attitude as she, as if he were the participator of her confession, and the accomplice of her shame. His face was level with hers, but his eyes looked straight past her, untainted and clear.
"What if there was?" he said. "It makes no difference."
She turned her sad face to his.
"Don't you know, Robert? Don't you know?"