“But, of course, I will tell you what my motives are.  My friends in this place are naturally my husband’s comrades, and I cannot turn to them if I do not intend to sign Irwin’s death warrant.  Not a single man amongst them would allow that a man of my husband’s stamp should remain an hour longer a member of the corps of officers in the British Army.”

“I do not quite understand you, Mrs. Irwin.  The gambling debt of your husband is, after all, no longer a secret to his comrades.”

“That is not the point.  How do you judge of a man who would sell his wife to pay his gambling debts?”

This last sentence struck Heideck like a blow.  With dilated eyes he stared at the young wife who had launched such a terrible indictment against her husband.  Never had she looked to him so charming as in this moment, when a sensation of womanly shame had suffused her pale cheeks with a crimson blush.  Never had he felt with such clearness what a precious treasure this charming creature would be to a man to whom she gave herself in love for his very own; and the less he doubted that she had just spoken the simple truth, the more did his heart rise in passionate wrath at the miserable reptile who was abandoned enough to drag this precious pearl in the mire.

“I do not presume to connect your question with Captain Irwin,” said Heideck, in a perceptibly tremulous voice, “for if he were really capable of doing so—­”

Edith interrupted him, pointing to a small case that lay on the little table beside her.

“Would you kindly just look at this ring, Mr. Heideck?”

He did as he was asked, and thought he recognised the beautiful diamond ring that he had yesterday seen sparkling on Irwin’s finger.  He asked whether it was so, and the young wife nodded assent.

“I gave it to my husband on our wedding-day.  The ring is an heirloom in my family.  Jewellers value it at more than a thousand pounds.”

“And why, may I ask, does your husband no longer wear it?”

“Because he intends to sell it.  Of course, the Maharajah is the only person who can afford the luxury of such articles, and my husband wishes me to conclude the bargain with the Prince.”

“You, Mrs. Irwin?  And why, pray, does he not do it himself?”

“Because the Maharajah will not pay him the price he demands.  My husband will not let the ring go under two lakhs.”

“But that is a tremendous sum!  That would be paying for it twelve times over!”

“My husband is, all the same, certain that the bargain would come off quite easily, provided I personally negotiated it.”

It was impossible to misunderstand the meaning of these words, and so great was the indignation they awoke in Heideck, that he sprang up in a bound from his chair.

“No! that is impossible—­it cannot be!  He cannot possibly have suggested that!  You must have misunderstood him.  No man, no officer, no gentleman, could ever be guilty of such a low, mean action!”