Ridgeon.  Yes:  I can forgive him for all that.

Mrs Dubedat.  Well, have you anything to say against him?  I have challenged everyone who has turned against him—­challenged them face to face to tell me any wrong thing he has done, any ignoble thought he has uttered.  They have always confessed that they could not tell me one.  I challenge you now.  What do you accuse him of?

Ridgeon.  I am like all the rest.  Face to face, I cannot tell you one thing against him.

Mrs Dubedat [not satisfied] But your manner is changed.  And you have broken your promise to me to make room for him as your patient.

Ridgeon.  I think you are a little unreasonable.  You have had the very best medical advice in London for him; and his case has been taken in hand by a leader of the profession.  Surely—­

Mrs Dubedat.  Oh, it is so cruel to keep telling me that.  It seems all right; and it puts me in the wrong.  But I am not in the wrong.  I have faith in you; and I have no faith in the others.  We have seen so many doctors:  I have come to know at last when they are only talking and can do nothing.  It is different with you.  I feel that you know.  You must listen to me, doctor. [With sudden misgiving] Am I offending you by calling you doctor instead of remembering your title?

Ridgeon.  Nonsense.  I am a doctor.  But mind you, dont call Walpole one.

Mrs DUBEBAT.  I dont care about Mr Walpole:  it is you who must befriend me.  Oh, will you please sit down and listen to me just for a few minutes. [He assents with a grave inclination, and sits on the sofa.  She sits on the easel chair] Thank you.  I wont keep you long; but I must tell you the whole truth.  Listen.  I know Louis as nobody else in the world knows him or ever can know him.  I am his wife.  I know he has little faults:  impatiences, sensitivenesses, even little selfishnesses that are too trivial for him to notice.  I know that he sometimes shocks people about money because he is so utterly above it, and cant understand the value ordinary people set on it.  Tell me:  did he—­did he borrow any money from you?

Ridgeon.  He asked me for some once.

Mrs Dubedat [tears again in her eyes] Oh, I am so sorry—­so sorry.  But he will never do it again:  I pledge you my word for that.  He has given me his promise:  here in this room just before you came; and he is incapable of breaking his word.  That was his only real weakness; and now it is conquered and done with for ever.

Ridgeon.  Was that really his only weakness?

Mrs Dubedat.  He is perhaps sometimes weak about women, because they adore him so, and are always laying traps for him.  And of course when he says he doesnt believe in morality, ordinary pious people think he must be wicked.  You can understand, cant you, how all this starts a great deal of gossip about him, and gets repeated until even good friends get set against him?