“Yes, I believe you.  I believe you did all you knew.”

“We did.  But it’s my fault that Anne’s going.  I lost my head, and she was afraid.”

“If only you’d told me.  I shouldn’t have been hard on you, Jerry.  You knew that, didn’t you?”

“Yes.  I knew.”

“And you went through all that agony rather than hurt me.”

“Yes.”

“The least I can do, then, is to let you go.”

“Would you, Maisie?”

“Of course.  I married you to make you happy.  I must make you happy this way, that’s all.  But if I do you mustn’t think I don’t care for you.  I care for you so much that nothing matters but your happiness.”

“Maisie, I’m not fit to live in the same world with you.”

“You mustn’t say that.  You’re fit to live in the same world with Anne.  I suppose I could have made this all ugly and shameful for you.  But I want to keep it beautiful.  I want to give you all beautiful to Anne, so that you’ll never go back on it, and never feel ashamed.”

“You made me ashamed every time we thought of you.”

“Don’t think of me.  Think of each other.”

“Oh—­you’re adorable.”

“No, I’m doing this because I love you both.  But if I didn’t love you I should do it for myself.  I should hate myself if I didn’t.  I can’t think of anything more disgusting and dishonourable than to keep a man tied to you when he cares for somebody else.  I should feel as if I were living in sin.”

“Maisie—­will you be awfully unhappy?”

“Yes, Jerrold.  But not so unhappy as if I’d kept you.”

“We’ll go away somewhere where you won’t have to see us.”

“No.  It’s I who’ll go away.”

“But I want you to have the Manor and—­and everything.  Colin’ll look after the estate for me.”

“Do you think I could stay here after you’d gone?...  No, Jerry, I can’t do that for you.  You can’t make it up that way.”

“I wasn’t dreaming of making it up.  I simply owe you everything, everlastingly, and there’s nothing I can do.  I only remembered that you liked the garden.”

“I couldn’t bear it.  I should hate the garden.  I should hate the whole place.”

“I’ve done that to you?”

“Yes, you’ve done that to me.  It can’t be helped.”

“But, what will you do, Maisie?”

“I shall go back to my own people.  They happen to care for me.”

That was her one reproach.

“Do you think I don’t?”

“Oh no.  I’ve done the only thing that would make you care.  Perhaps that’s what I did it for.”

He took the hand she gave him and bowed his head over it and kissed it.

iii

Maisie had a long talk with Eliot after Jerrold had left her.

She was still tranquil and composed, but Jerrold was worried.  He was afraid lest the emotion roused by his confession should bring on her pain.  That night Eliot slept in his father’s room, so that he could go to her if the attack came.