“And I dare say all sorts of suspicions, ugly suspicions perhaps, have come into your mind. But try to put them away. Try to believe that I am honestly doing my best to be a friend to you, a true friend.”
“Forgive me, Adela, for being brutally frank with you. But I don’t think you care very much for me.”
“I wrote that letter against my own desire simply because I thought I ought to. I wrote it simply for your sake. I would have given a great deal not to write it. I knew that there was even danger in writing it.”
“What danger?”
“It was possible that you might disregard my request and show my letter. I felt practically certain you wouldn’t, but you might have done so.”
“And if I had?”
“If you had—then—but I only tell you this to prove that in this instance I was trying to be a friend to you.”
“If I had shown this letter, or if I were to show it to Mr. Arabian he might bring an action for libel on it, I should think.”
“I dare say he could do that.”
“Well—but if you could justify!”