allusion to the great wrong which he had endured, throwing in her teeth the confessions which she had made and almost accusing her of that which she certainly never had confessed, even when, in the extremity of her misery at Casalunga, she had thought that it little mattered what she said, so that for the moment he might be appeased.  If he died, was he to die in this belief?  If he lived, was he to live in this belief?  And if he did so believe, was it possible that he should still trust her with his money and with his child?

‘Emily,’ he said one day, ‘it has been a terrible tragedy, has it not?’ She did not answer his question, sitting silent as it was her custom to do when he addressed her after such fashion as this.  At such times she would not answer him; but she knew that he would press her for an answer.  ‘I blame him more than I do you,’ continued Trevelyan, ’infinitely more.  He was a serpent intending to sting me from the first, not knowing perhaps how deep the sting would go.’  There was no question in this, and the assertion was one which had been made so often that she could let it pass.  ’You are young, Emily, and it may be that you will marry again.

‘Never,’ she said, with a shudder.  It seemed to her then that marriage was so fearful a thing that certainly she could never venture upon it again.

’All I ask of you is, that should you do so, you will be more careful of your husband’s honour.’

‘Louis,’ she said, getting up and standing close to him, ’tell me what it is that you mean.’  It was now his turn to remain silent, and hers to demand an answer.  ‘I have borne much,’ she continued, ’because I would not vex you in your illness.’

‘You have borne much?’

‘Indeed and indeed, yes.  What woman has ever borne more!’

‘And I?’ said he.

’Dear Louis, let us understand each other at last.  Of what do you accuse me?  Let us, at any rate, know each other’s thoughts on this matter, of which each of us is ever thinking.’

‘I make no new accusation.’

’I must protest then against your using words which seem to convey accusation.  Since marriages were first known upon earth, no woman has ever been truer to her husband than I have been to you.’

’Were you lying to me then at Casalunga when you acknowledged that you had been false to your duties?’

’If I acknowledged that, I did lie.  I never said that; but yet I did lie, believing it to be best for you that I should do so.  For your honour’s sake, for the child’s sake, weak as you are, Louis, I must protest that it was so.  I have never injured you by deed or thought.’

’And yet you have lied to me!  Is a lie no injury—­and such a lie!  Emily, why did you lie to me!  You will tell me tomorrow that you never lied, and never owned that you had lied.’

Though it should kill him, she must tell him the truth now.  ’You were very ill at Casalunga,’ she said, after a pause.