"Yes."
"I believe it. I never knew you to do or say a deliberately unkind thing. I never knew you to abuse a confidence, either.... And you were the receptacle for many—Heaven only knows how many trivial, petty, miserable little intrigues you were made aware of, or how many secret kindnesses you have done.... Let that go, too. I want to tell you something."
She motioned him nearer; she was too stout to lean far forward: and he placed his chair beside hers.
"Do you know where and when Sir Charles first saw Strelsa Leeds?"
"Yes."
"In Egypt. She was the wife of the charming and accomplished Reggie at the time."
"I know."
"Did you know that Sir Charles fell in love with her then? That he never forgot her? That when Reggie finally took his last header into the ditch he had been riding for, Sir Charles came to me in America and asked what was best to do? That on my advice he waited until I managed to draw the girl out of her retirement? That then, on my advice, he returned to America to offer himself when the proper time arrived? Did you know these things, Rix?"
"No," he said.