Her father and her sister lifted their eyes to her as she came in.
Rowcliffe had turned away.
"Has she said anything?"
(Mary spoke.)
"Yes."
The Vicar looked sternly at his second daughter.
"She denies it?"
"No, Papa. She doesn't deny it."
He drove it home. "Has—she—confessed?"
"She's told me it's true—what you think."
In the silence that fell on the four Rowcliffe stayed where he stood, downcast and averted. It was as if he felt that Gwenda could have charged him with betrayal of a trust.