‘There is no use in denying it—you cannot! How can you, with that man standing there to give you the lie? But I have understood always—God knows I have understood!’
‘It is untrue from beginning to end,’ said Fullarton very quietly.
‘You are obliged to say that,’ she said through her teeth. ‘It is a lie!’
But for this one friendship, he had lived half his life solely among men. He had not fathomed the unsparing brutality of women. His hand was on the door. She sprang towards him and clasped both hers round his arm.
‘Let me go,’ he said, trying to part the hands; ‘I cannot bear this. Have you no pity, Eliza?’
‘But you will come back? Oh, Robert, listen to me! Listen to me! You think because I have spoken now that I will speak again. Never! I never will!’
‘You have broken everything,’ said he.
‘What have I done?’ she asked fiercely. ‘Have I once made a sign of what I knew all those years? Have I, Robert?’
‘No,’ he said thickly; ‘I suppose not. How can I tell?’