"Yes? Well, in the circumstances, you had no shadow of right to take the law into your own hands and act deliberately against my wishes, just because my trust in you was too complete for me to conceive the possibility of such a thing. If that trust between us is to remain solid, our problems, in the future, will have to be shared. Neither must spare the other for a mistaken sense of self-sacrifice. You would not hide your joys from me—why, then, your sorrows? Again, I ask you: are you satisfied that I am right?"
"You know," said Ferlie's muffled tones. "You know...."
"Do I? Then I am going to extract a promise from you, here and now, that you will be fair with me, as I have been fair with you. Did I lie to you after the return of Hla Byu into our joint lives? Did I leave you and withdraw to fight my battle alone when she drowned herself? I wonder whether the earthly years make a difference, Ferlie, after all? I wonder whether you are capable of understanding what love means to a man who has lived nearly half a century without it, and who suddenly finds himself face to face with its illimitable mysteries? Surely, you will admit the fact that, since my probation has been double yours, I have earned the inevitable right to lead before I follow?"
Even then she did not stir under the strengthening touch of his sensitive fingers.
"Lead on," she said....
CHAPTER XVI
Said the Most Important Lady, she always knew that there was something queer about it. "Looks as if the whole of his ultimate objections to Mr. Maur were rooted in the fact that he knew Maur would probably let it out."
"But how did Maur himself find it out?"
"Probably the girl told him."