His was an old love, alas! He had not been capable of the sort that defies change. It had faded from him until it seemed one of the things that are not. Although his being had once glowed in its light, he could now speak of a meeting as awkward.
"Because you wronged her?" suggested the schoolmaster.
"Because they lied to me, by God!"
"Which they dared not have done had you not lied to them first."
"Sir!" shouted the marquis, with all the voice he had left.—"O God, have mercy! I cannot punish the scoundrel."
"The scoundrel is the man who lies, my lord."
"Were I anywhere else—"
"There would be no good in telling you the truth, my lord. You showed her to the world as a woman over whom you had prevailed, and not as the honest wife she was. What kind of a lie was that, my lord? Not a white one, surely?"
"You are a damned coward to speak so to a man who cannot even turn on his side to curse you for a base hound. You would not dare it but that you know I cannot defend myself."
"You are right, my lord: your conduct is indefensible."