“You spent the day with my rival, unknown to me,” I went on bitterly. “Yet you declare that you never loved him?”
Her breath came and went in short, quick gasps, her haggard eyes were fixed; she stood silent, unable to make reply.
“It is useless to further prolong this painful interview,” I exclaimed at last, turning from her.
“I swear I never loved him,” she cried suddenly. “Some day, when you know the truth, you will bitterly regret how you have misjudged me, how, while striving to serve you, I have fallen under suspicion.”
“But your visit to Warnham!” I said. “Is that an act such as can be overlooked without explanation?”
“I only ask you to place trust in me, and I will prove ere long that I acted under compulsion.”
“You want me to believe that he held you irrevocably in his power, I suppose?” I said with biting sarcasm.
She nodded, and held her head in downcast, dejected attitude.
“It is easy enough to allege all this, now that he is dead,” I observed doubtingly.
“I have told you the truth. I feared him, and was compelled to obey,” she exclaimed hoarsely.