"You are wronging more people than your own, Shiela—"
"It is not true!" she said breathlessly. "There is a nobler happiness than one secured at the expense of selfishness and ingratitude. I tell you, as long as I live, I will not have them know or suffer because of my disgraceful escapade with you! You probably meant well; I must have been crazy, I think. But we've got to endure the consequences. If there's unhappiness and pain to be borne, we've got to bear it—we alone—"
"And Hamil. All three of us."
She looked at him desperately; read in his cool gaze that she could not deceive him, and remained silent.
"What about Hamil's unhappiness?" repeated Malcourt slowly.
"If—if he has any, he requires no instruction how to bear it."
Malcourt nodded, then, with a weary smile: "I do not plead with you for my own chance of happiness. Yet, you owe me something, Shiela."
"What?"
"The right to face the world under true colours. You owe me that."
She whitened to the lips. "I know it."