“You have simply no idea, I tell you.  I remember your consternation when we first met, and I told you about the woman who had written me a begging letter, and got an interview with me, and then started screaming, and refused to leave the house till I had paid her a lot of money.  You had never heard such stories, had you?  Yet it is the kind of thing that is happening to rich men continually; it was one of the first rules I was taught, never to let myself be alone with a strange woman, no matter of what age, or under what circumstances.”

“But, I assure you, I would not listen to such people——­”

“You are asking right now to listen!  And you would be influenced by her—­you could not help it, any more than you can help being distressed about what she has already said.  She intimated to Dr. Perrin that she believed that I had been a man of depraved life, and that my wife and child were now paying the penalty.  How can I tell what vile stories concerning me she may not have heard?  How could I have any peace of mind while I knew that she was free to pour them into your ear?”

Sylvia sat dumb with questions she would not utter, hovering on the tip of her tongue.

He took her silence for acquiesence, and went on, quickly, “Let me give you an illustration.  A friend of mine whom you know well—­I might as well tell you his name, it was Freddie Atkins—­was at supper with some theatrical women; and one of them, not having any idea that Freddie knew me, proceeded to talk about me, and how she had met me, and where we had been together—­about my yacht, and my castle in Scotland, and I don’t know what all else.  It seems that this woman had been my mistress for several years; she told quite glibly about me and my habits.  Freddie got the woman’s picture, on some pretext or other, and brought it to me; I had never laid eyes on her in my life.  He could hardly believe it, and to prove it to him I offered to meet the woman, under another name.  We sat in a restaurant, and she told the tale to Freddie and myself together—­until finally he burst out laughing, and told her who I was.”

He paused, to let this sink in.  “Now, suppose your friend, Mary Abbott, had met that woman!  I don’t imagine she is particularly careful whom she associates with; and suppose she had come and told you that she knew such a woman—­what would you have said?  Can you deny that the tale would have made an impression on you?  Yet, I’ve not the least doubt there are scores of women who made such tales about me a part of their stock in trade; there are thousands of women whose fortunes would be made for life if they could cause such a tale to be believed.  And imagine how well-informed they would be, if anyone were to ask them concerning my habits, and the reason why our baby is blind!  I tell you, when the rumour concerning our child has begun to spread, there will be ten thousand people in New York city who will know of first-hand, personal