'She is just the sort to get into mischief,' he continued; 'there is a dangerous look in her eyes. Go on, Michael; don't keep me in suspense. There is something disgraceful behind all this. What reason has any woman to allege for giving up her husband?'
'Her excuse is that he brought shame and dishonour on her and on his children, and that she would have nothing more to do with him. He had committed a forgery, and had been condemned to penal servitude for seven years.'
Then the Doctor said 'Good heavens!' again. At certain moments of existence it is not possible to be original—when the roof is falling on one's head, for example, or a deadly avalanche is threatening. But Michael needed no answer; he only wished to finish his story as quickly as possible.
'You know Audrey's friend, Thomas O'Brien?'
'To be sure I do. He is a retired corn-chandler. I went to his shop once, in Peterborough.'
'And you have probably heard of his brother Mat?'
Then Dr. Ross gazed at him with a face of despair. His misfortunes were accumulating; he had a sense of nightmare and oppression. Surely this hideous thing could not be true! no such disgrace could threaten him and his! If an earthquake had opened in the Woodcote grounds, he could not have looked more horrified.
'Do you mean to tell me, Mike, that this Mat O'Brien is Cyril's father?'
Then Michael gave him a detailed and carefully-worded account of his interview with Mrs. Blake.
'Then it is true—quite true?' in a hopeless tone.