"Don't tell it me!" she passionately interrupted. "Do not tell me that I am only your second wife."
He went over to her, praying her to be calm, speaking of the bitter feeling of shame which had ever since clung to him.
"Did you divorce her?"
"No, no; you do not understand me, Eliza. She died before anything could be done; the ship was wrecked."
"Were there any children?" she asked in a hard whisper.
"One; a baby of a year old. He was drowned with his mother."
Mrs. Hamlyn folded her hands one over the other, and leaned back in her chair. "Why did you deceive me?"
"My will was good to deceive you for ever," he confessed with emotion. "I hate that past episode in my life; hate to think of it: I wish I could blot it out of remembrance. But for Pratt I should not have told you now."
"Oh, he said you ought to tell me?"
"He did: and blamed me for not having told you already."