And nobody has known save Quintin until
last night, when to induce him to come here and save me he was
forced to tell him."
"But I, Therese?" the Marquis insisted. "It was my right to know."
"Your right? What could you have done? Acknowledge him? And then?
Ha!" It was a queer, desperate note of laughter. "There was
Plougastel; there was my family. And there was you... you, yourself,
who had ceased to care, in whom the fear of discovery had stifled
love. Why should I have told you, then? Why? I should not have
told you now had there been any other way to... to save you both.
Once before I suffered just such dreadful apprehensions when you
and he fought in the Bois. I was on my way to prevent it when you
met me. I would have divulged the truth, as a last resource, to
avert that horror. But mercifully God spared me the necessity then."
It had not occurred to any of them to doubt her statement, incredible
though it might seem. Had any done so her present words must have
resolved all doubt, explaining as they did much that to each of her
listeners had been obscure until this moment.
Pages:
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651