"'Are you in the habit of frequenting the gaming-table? Yes, or no.'
"My eyes involuntarily shrunk from hers.
"'The race-course?'
"'I must confess to both these charges,' I stammered out. 'But'——
"'For such conduct there can be no excuse. It is not amid such scenes that I would look for the man I love.'
"'Cease, Charlotte, in mercy cease, if you do not mean to drive me mad. Some enemy has poisoned your mind against me. Left to yourself, you could not condemn me in this cold, pitiless manner.'
"'Your own lips have condemned you, Philip.' She stopped, passed her hand across her brow, as if in sudden pain, and sighed deeply.
"'When will these reproaches end, Charlotte? Of what else do you accuse me?'
"'Is what I have said, false or true?' she cried, turning suddenly towards me, and grasping my arm. 'If false, clear yourself. If true, what more can I have to do with you?'
"'Alas!' I cried, 'it is but too true!'