She removed her veil very slowly, and then stood looking him in the face,—­not full in the face, for she could not quite raise her eyes to meet his.  And though she made an effort to brazen it out, she could not quite succeed.  She attempted to raise her head, and carry herself with pride; but every now and again there was a slight quiver,—­slight, but still visible.  The effort, too, was visible.  But there she stood, looking at him, and to be looked at,—­but without a word.  During the whole interview she never once opened her lips.

She had lost all her comeliness.  It was now nearly seven years since they two had been on the Goldfinder together, and then he had found her very attractive.  There was no attraction now.  She was much aged; and her face was coarse, as though she had taken to drinking.  But there was still about her something of that look of intellect which had captivated him more, perhaps, than her beauty.  Since those days she had become a slave to gold,—­and such slavery is hardly compatible with good looks in a woman.  There she stood,—­ready to listen to him, ready to take his money, but determined not to utter a word.

Then he took the cheque out of his pocket, and holding it in his hand, spoke to them as follows:  ’I have explained to Mr. Bollum, and have explained to my friend here, Mr. Gray, the reasons which induce me to pay to you, Timothy Crinkett, and to you, Euphemia Smith, the large sum of twenty thousand pounds.  The nature of our transactions has been such that I feel bound in honour to repay so much of the price you paid for the Polyeuka mine.’

‘All right, Caldigate; all right,’ said Crinkett.

’And I have explained also to both of them that this payment has nothing whatever to do with the base, false, and most wicked charge which you are bringing against me.  It is not because that woman, by a vile perjury, claims me as her husband, and because I wish to buy her silence or his, that I make this restitution.  I restore the money of my own free will, without any base bargain.  You can go on with your perjury or abstain from it, as you may think best.’

‘We understand, squire,’ said Crinkett, affecting to laugh.  ’You hand over the money,—­that’s all.’  Then the woman looked round at her companion, and a frown came across her face; but she said nothing, turning her face again upon Caldigate, and endeavouring to keep her eyes steadfastly fixed upon him.

‘Have you brought a receipt signed by both of you?’ Then Bollum handed him a receipt signed ‘Timothy Crinkett, for self and partners.’  But Caldigate demanded that the woman also should sign it.

‘There is a difficulty about the name, you see,’ said Bollum.  There was a difficulty about the name, certainly.  It would not be fair, he thought, that he should force her to the use of a name she disowned, and he did not wish to be hindered from what he was doing by her persistency in calling herself by his own name.