“You realised that you were not dealing frankly with me,” he said. “That is all that I care about, and that is why I am not willing to continue to represent you. Stanley Ryder has bought your stock, and Stanley Ryder will have to be your adviser in the future.”
He had not meant to discuss the matter with her any further, but he saw how profoundly he had hurt her, and the old bond between them held him still.
“Can't you understand what you did to me, Lucy?” he exclaimed. “Imagine my position, talking to Mr. Hanson, I knowing nothing and he knowing everything. He knew what you had been paid, and he even knew that you had taken a note.”
Lucy stared at Montague with wide-open eyes. “Allan!” she gasped.
“You see what it means,” he said. “I told you that you could not keep your doings secret. Now it will only be a matter of a few days before everybody who knows will be whispering that you have permitted Stanley Ryder to do this for you.”
There was a long silence. Lucy sat staring before her. Then suddenly she faced Montague.
“Allan!” she cried. “Surely—you understand!”
She burst out violently, “I had a right to sell that stock! Ryder needed it. He is going to organise a syndicate, and develop the property. It was a simple matter of business.”
“I have no doubt of it, Lucy,” said Montague, in a low voice, “but how will you persuade the world of that? I told you what would happen if you permitted yourself to be intimate with a man like Stanley Ryder. You will find out too late what it means. Certainly that incident with Waterman ought to have opened your eyes to what people are saying.”
Lucy gave a start, and gazed at him with horror in her eyes. “Allan!” she panted.