"Of course I shan't!" said Frank indignantly.
"You're a gentleman too," said Gertie. (Frank winced a little, interiorly, at the "too.") "I can see that you're polite to a lady. And I don't know however I came to tell you. But there it is, and no harm's done."
"Why don't you leave him?" said Frank courageously. A little wave of feeling went over her face.
"He's a gentleman," she said.... "No, I can't leave him. But it does come over you sometimes; doesn't it?" (Her face wavered again.) "It was them bells, and the people and all."
"Where's your home?"
She jerked her head in a vague direction.
"Down Londonwards," she said. "But that's all done with. I've made my bed, and—"
"Tell me plainly: does he bully you?"
"Not to say bully," she said. "He struck me once, but never again."
"Tell me if he does it again."