"For what?"
The words trembled on my lips. And yet, without a struggle, I could not utter them. As I looked into the water, all at once my eyes seemed blinded by its glare.
"For loving you."
She was still. I did not dare to turn to look upon her face, for fear of what there might be there to see.
"You have your methods, Mr. Townsend."
"In what sense, Miss Jardine?"
"I await the penny's worth."
On a sudden a great shame came over me; a sense of overwhelming horror. I sank on my knee. I hid my face in my hands on the basin's edge.
"God help me!"
The cry was wrung from me by something which, for the moment, was stronger than I.