CHAPTER III.


"What's all this?" she cried in great agitation. "Wait, do not speak,
Philpotts, leave him to me.... Do you go back to our place this
instant; we cannot be away together, you know that; _it_ must not be
left alone, one of us must be on guard over it. Hurry, hurry, I never
feel that _it_ is safe out of our sight.

"Now, sir," Mrs. Blair turned on me fiercely, "will you be so good as
to explain how I find you quarrelling with my maid, permitting
yourself to cast aspersions, to make imputations upon two unprotected
women?"

"How much have you overheard?" I asked, feeling very small already. My
self-reproach was aroused even before I quailed under the withering
contempt of her tone.

"Enough to expect ample apology. How dare you, how dare you say such
things? What you may imagine, what unworthy idea you may have formed,
is beyond me to guess, but you can know nothing. You can have no real
reason for condemning me."

"Let me admit that, and leave the matter there," I pleaded. I could
not bring myself to tell her that she was self-condemned, that she was
the principal witness against herself. It would have been too cruel,