“Stephen!”
“I know what you mean by speaking like that.”
“Was it Elfride? YOU the man, Stephen?”
“Yes; and you are thinking why did I conceal the fact from you that time at Endelstow, are you not?”
“Yes, and more—more.”
“I did it for the best; blame me if you will; I did it for the best. And now say how could I be with you afterwards as I had been before?”
“I don’t know at all; I can’t say.”
Knight remained fixed in thought, and once he murmured—
“I had a suspicion this afternoon that there might be some such meaning in your words about my taking her away. But I dismissed it. How came you to know her?” he presently asked, in almost a peremptory tone.
“I went down about the church; years ago now.”