He had not skill to read her countenance.  Trouble he discerned, and shame; but the half-veiled eyes, the quivering nostril, the hard, cold lips, spoke a language beyond Samuel’s interpretation.  Even had he known of the outrages previously inflicted upon her pride, and that this new attack came at a moment when her courage was baffled, her heart cruelly wounded, he would just as little have comprehended the spirit which now kept her mute.

He imagined her overcome by his generosity.  Another of his great effects had come off with tolerable success.

‘Put your mind at rest,’ he pursued mellifluously.  ’You shall suffer no hardships.  I answer for it.’

Still mute, and her head bowed low.  Such is the power of nobility displayed before an erring soul!

‘You have never done me justice.  Confess that you haven’t!’

To this remarkable appeal Nancy perforce replied: 

‘I never thought ill of you.’

When she had spoken, colour came into her cheeks.  Observing it, Samuel was strangely moved.  Had he impressed her even more profoundly than he hoped to do?  Jessica Morgan’s undisguised subjugation had flattered him into credulity respecting his influence over the female mind.

‘But you didn’t think me capable of—­of anything extraordinary?’ Even in her torment, Nancy marvelled at this revelation of fatuity.  She did not understand the pranks of such a mind as Barmby’s when its balance is disturbed by exciting circumstance.

‘What are you offering me?’ she asked, in a low voice.  ’How could I take money from you?’

’I didn’t mean that you should.  Your secret has been betrayed to me.  Suppose I refuse to know anything about it, and leave things as they were?’

Nancy kept her eyes down.

’Suppose I say:  Duty bids me injure this woman who has injured me; but no, I will not!  Suppose I say:  I can make her regret bitterly that she married that other man; but no, I will not!  Suppose, instead of making your secret known, I do my utmost to guard it!  What would be your opinion of this behaviour?’

‘I should think it was kindly meant, but useless.’

‘Useless?  Why?’

’Because it isn’t in your power to guard the secret.  Jessica Morgan won’t leave her work half done.’

’If that’s all, I say again that you can put your mind at rest.  I answer for Miss.  Morgan.  With her my will is law.’

Samuel smiled.  A smile ineffable.  The smile of a suburban deity.

‘Why should you take any trouble about me?’ said Nancy.  ’I can do nothing for you in return.’

‘You can.’

She looked anxiously at him, for his voice sounded ominous.

‘What?’

‘You can acknowledge that you never did me justice.’

‘It’s true that I didn’t,’ she answered languidly; speaking as though the concession mattered little.

Barmby brightened.  His hands were upon his knees; he raised his chin, and smiled at vacancy.