"It was not so; it was not she...."

"I say it was, and if I say so I am to be believed, Lionel. I'd smirch
no woman's reputation without just cause. Be very sure of that."

Lionel stared up at him. "O God!" he cried presently, "I know not what
to believe. I am a shuttle-cock flung this way and that way."

"Believe me," said Sir Oliver grimly. "And set all doubts to rest."
Then he smiled. "So that was the virtuous Master Peter's secret
pastime, eh? The hypocrisy of man! There is no plumbing the endless
depths of it!"

He laughed outright, remembering all the things that Master Peter had
said of Ralph Tressilian--delivering himself as though he were some
chaste and self-denying anchorite. Then on that laugh he caught
his breath quite suddenly. "Would she know?" he asked fearfully.
"Would that harlot know, would she suspect that 'twas your hand did
this?"

"Aye--would she," replied the other. "I told her to-night, when she
flouted me and spoke of him, that I went straight to find him and pay
the score between us. I was on my way to Godolphin Court when I came
upon him in the park."

"Then you lied to me again, Lionel. For you said 'twas he attacked
you."

"And so he did." Lionel countered instantly. "He never gave me time to