"My dear madame, how should I know?" he exclaimed.
"She has promised to be your wife, and it is very likely that she has confided the story of her past to you," replied Mrs. Stuart.
"You are mistaken in the supposition. She has steadily declined any such confidence. I have taken her upon her own merits, mystery and all," he replied.
There was a moment's pause. Their faces were in shadow, and Mrs. Stuart devoutly wished that she could pierce the veil of the darkness, and read upon his weak face whether or not he was deliberately trying to deceive her.
"Perhaps you have formed some opinion of your own," she said.
"I have had no clew upon which to base an opinion," he replied.
"Have you ever seen the pictures in her locket?" she inquired.
Taken by surprise, he stammered faintly: "Ye-es, once, by the merest accident."
"You recognized them?" she asked, coldly.