"Unwittingly? Do you call it 'unwitting' when you use your wealth to bribe and corrupt so that a man, even if he be guilty, may be made to suffer? These were the things you did to ruin me—an innocent man."
Hendrie smoked on. His eyes were lowered so that the other could not see their expression.
"I did these things, and—there is no excuse," he said presently. "You are young. Anyway, you cannot see with my eyes. Let me try to fit the case on you. Suppose you married—your Phyllis. Suppose you had every reason for believing her faithless to you. Suppose you caught her lover, as you believed, with money, your money, with which she had supplied him. To what lengths would you go to punish him?"
"It would be impossible. As impossible as it was in your wife's case."
"Just so. But—suppose. Suppose—you believed."
Hendrie was leaning forward in his rocker.
"I might shoot him, but I would not——"
"Just so—you would commit murder, where I—I resorted to methods perhaps less criminal. Suppose I had shot you. Suppose I had escaped the legal consequences of my crime, and then discovered your innocence. Need I go further?"
The subtle manner in which he had been inveigled into debate infuriated Frank. But somehow he was powerless to withdraw. The man's calmness held him, and he blundered further.
"If you possessed half the honesty you claim for your purpose you would have been man enough to go to your wife for explanation."