‘And if you do, what then?’
‘I will pray to her on my knees to return.’
‘Whether she is worthy or unworthy?’
‘Margaret, take care! I won’t hear one whisper against her.’
Margaret’s lips tightened, and her surgical manner increased.
‘If you will not listen to me,’ she said, ‘at least attend to what the world says. These papers were sent, under cover, to me, this morning. It is my duty, James, to bring them to your attention.’
So saying, she handed to him copies of the ‘Plain Speaker’ and the ‘Whirligig’; they had indeed been sent to her by an anonymous correspondent, who had taken the trouble to mark the obnoxious paragraphs very carefully in red ink.
Forster looked at them, and seemed to read them in a dazed, stupefied sort of way; and as he did so shudder after shudder ran through his frame. But he evinced less surprise than his sister had anticipated.
‘Of course, James, you understand these allusions? Do they refer in any way to your wife? In any case, can you explain them?’
‘Yes! he answered, looking up into her eyes.