‘What lies?’
‘You did not lose the money. Why deceive me? I know your object in lurking here, in the most out-of-the-way nook of England you could find. You think that here you are safe from pursuit. You made up the story to impose on my father, and induce him to engage you. O, you are very honourable! discharging a debt!—I hate crime, but I hate falsehood even more.’
‘You are mistaken, Miss Jordan. The story is true.’
‘You have told the whole honest truth?’
‘I do not profess to have told the whole truth. What I have told has been true, though I have not told all.’
‘A pinch of truth is often more false than a bushel of lies. It deceives, the other does not.’
‘It is true that I lost the money confided to me. If you are going to Ashburton, I ask you, as a matter of kindness—I know how kind you can be, alas, and I know also how cruel—to see my father.’
She laughed haughtily. ‘This is a fine proposition. The servant sends the mistress to do his dirty work. I thank you for the honour.’ She turned angrily away.
‘Miss Barbara,’ said Jasper, ‘you are indeed cruel.’