She wouldn’t lie to him.

“Then why did you come away?”

She had not looked at him till then. Now she raised her eyes. They were steady and sorrowful.

“I don’t want to say. ^”

“That’s nonsense! You’ve got to!”

“Dale-”

He laughed angrily.

“What’s come over you? The Cranes are my friends. You go down for the weekend, and you run away next day. You can’t do a thing like that and make no explanation. Did you have a row with Marian?”

Her colour rose – with relief, not embarrassment.

“Of course I didn’t! I don’t have rows with people.” She stepped back, and he let her go. “It was nothing to do with Mrs. Crane. I’ll – I’ll tell you what I can. It was -after breakfast. I went into the garden, and I – overheard two of the other women talking. I don’t know who they were – it was a very big house-party-”

“What did they say?” His tone was scornful.

She had a moment of sick wonder as to what he would say if she told him. But she couldn’t tell him. Her breath failed her at the thought.

“I don’t know who they were-”

“You said that before. I want to know what they said.”

Good heavens – why couldn’t she tell him and have done with it? Some stupid bit of scandal about his friendship with Marian! He had at no time a patient temper. The thought that Lisle had run away from some rubbish of that kind stirred it sharply. She saw his face darken, and said, hurrying over the words,

“It was stupid of me, but I didn’t feel as if I could meet them afterwards – I didn’t want to know who they were. Oh, Dale, can’t you understand that? It was a horrid thing to hear, and I didn’t want to know who had said it, or – or – to meet them. But if I had stayed I should have had to, and as soon as I heard them speak I should – I should have known who they were. Oh, don’t you see?”

The dark look settled into a frown.

“Not yet, but I’m going to. You haven’t told me what they said. You heard something which made you treat the Cranes with a good deal of discourtesy. Well, just what did you hear?”