"I only got to Liverpool last night. We ran into a fog-bank and had to reduce speed. I tried to let you know but it seemed hopeless. I came as quickly as I could."
She heard what he said disinterestedly, wondering why he chose to make explanations at all, and when he had finished she looked at him with dazed brown eyes.
"Mother is dead; did they tell you?"
"The woman downstairs told me. I can't tell you how grieved I am. If I had only been here. If I had only been able to help."
The girl looked at him blankly; he had a kind face she thought, even as she had thought that time of their first meeting, but now she knew that he was not really kind or anything that he looked. He was Scammel who had ruined her father, Scammel for whose sake all those girls at Heeler's factory worked and sweated, and made money whereby to enrich him.
"I don't know why you came here, anyway," she said helplessly.
He flushed and bit a lip, but he answered gently enough: "I came straight to you, of course! Who had a better right! Have you forgotten so soon that you are my wife?"
She held out her bare left hand.
"I sent your ring back. I am sorry I ever married you. It's all over and done with."