He took her by the shoulders and shook her. "Is it true—is it true?"
For a moment he thought she was going to refuse to answer; then suddenly she dragged herself free. She started up, and stood facing him pantingly.
"Yes," she said defiantly. "Yes, it is true."
And then the silence fell again, long and unbroken.
It seemed an eternity to Jimmy Challoner; an eternity during which he stood there like a man in a dream, staring at her flushed face.
The world had surely come crashing about him in ruins; for the moment, at least, he was blind and deaf to everything.
When at last he could find his voice—
"It was all—a lie then—about your—husband!—a lie—to—to get rid of me."
"If you like to put it that way."
Jimmy turned blindly to the door. He felt like a drunken man. He had opened it when she called his name; when she followed and caught his hand, holding him back.