Her voice was scornful.
"No, you did not. You did better. You sold yourself for a sum of money. Shall we cry truce?"
"Yes; go on."
"I've been a good deal on the Continent. I've been doing a great many things I should not do. Amongst others, I have been gambling; and, worst of all, I have lost. There are many excuses for a man gambling. There is no excuse for a man losing. Well, I got cleaned out, and I came home--I mean I went back to Ireland.
"Naturally I faced south. Naturally I went on to Waterford. Naturally I found myself in Kilcash."
She made a gesture of dissent. But it was too dark for him to see. She said: "Most unwise and most unnatural."
"It may have been unwise, but it was most natural. What can be more natural than that a man should go where his heart---- But if I say any more in this strain, you will be angry?"
"Most assuredly,"
"Well, when I got to Kilcash, I kept my ears open, and soon I heard that you were about to leave Kilcash House and take a house in or near London. I inquired still further, found out the day you were to leave, and got the address of the house you had taken. I came on to London.
"I arrived here the night before last. I knew you could not be in your new house until late in the day. I wanted to call most particularly. There was not an hour to be lost. It was neck or nothing with me. I resolved to call at Crescent House that very night, and I did."