Sedgwick turned white, at the cry, but faced the older man steadily.
“I fear, sir,” he said, “that I have made a terrible mistake. The blame is wholly mine. I beg you to believe that I came here wholly without the knowledge of—of your wife—”
“Of whom?” exclaimed Blair; and, in the same moment, the girl cried out, “Oh, no, no. Not that!”
“Not?” exclaimed Sedgwick. “Then—”
“Marjorie,” interrupted Mr. Blair, “do you know this man?”
“Yes,” she said quietly.
“Since when?”
“Since two weeks.”
“And he has come here before?”
“No.”