"Or if you don't believe that I trust you absolutely, and have the greatest possible regard for your professional skill.... You may remember how I almost told you about it."
"No, I'll be hanged if I remember that."
"Well, I tried to explain—indirectly—that the whole affair was so complicated.... There were so many things to be thought of. There was Enid. I had to think of her all the time.... Honestly, I put her before myself. Until Enid could get rid of Kenion, it didn't seem much use for me to get rid of poor Richard.... And if either of them had guessed, everything might have gone wrong—I mean, might have worked out differently. And of course it made secrecy of such vital importance. You do understand that, don't you?"
"Yes," said Mr. Prentice, laughing contentedly, "I do understand. But now I wonder—would you mind telling me when it was that you first thought of the Bence coup?"
"Well, I fancy that the germ of the idea came to me in church;" and Mrs. Marsden-Thompson folded her hands, and looked reflectively at the tea-cups. "I was thinking of Richard, and of Mr. Bence—and then some verses in a psalm struck me most forcibly. One verse especially—I shall never forget it. 'Let his days be few; and let another take his office.'"
"How did that apply?"
"Well, I suppose I thought vaguely—quite vaguely—that if Richard was bad at managing a business, Mr. Bence was rather good at it.... Then, that very evening, you so kindly came in to supper, and told me as a positive fact that Bence was nearly done for. And then it struck me at once that, in the long run, Bence's failure could prove of advantage to nobody, and that it ought to be prevented;" and she looked up brightly, and smiled at Mr. Prentice. "So really and truly, it is you that I have to thank. You brought me that invaluable information. You inspired me to do it."
Mr. Prentice got up from the easy chair, and playfully shook a forefinger at his hostess.
"Now—now. Don't drag me into it. I'm too old a bird to be caught with chaff."
"But I am truly forgiven?" And she stretched out her hand towards him. "Not the smallest soreness left? You will still be what you have always been—my best and kindest friend?"