"Who can have spoken of such a thing?" she said, earnestly.
"There was only one human being who knew the facts," was the answer. "That was—his wife."
"Claud, no!" Her vehemence startled him. "You should say such a thing of no wife!" she cried. "It is impossible—unnatural! She never could have betrayed such a secret!"
He rose, and slipped an arm round her neck.
"You judge all women by your own standard, dear."
"I don't! I don't do anything of the kind! I do not think highly of Elsa—you know I never did! But that would be too horrible. It has come out some other way. No wife could be such a traitor."
As she spoke the words, Henry Fowler came over the bridge; and instinctively they held their breath. His face looked calmer and he was smiling.
"Well, young people," he said, brightly, "my eyes are getting old, you know, but I don't fancy I'm wrong. Claud, look out to sea. Isn't there a sail out there towards Lyme? Isn't it the cutter?"
Claud turned his eyes in the direction indicated.
"Right enough," he said. "If this breeze holds, she'll be here in no time. She has made her journey a day faster than was expected."