The Young Doctor almost laughed outright, despite the danger of the
situation. He was not prepared for Kitty's reply and the impulsive act
that marched with it. In an instant Kitty had caught Mona Crozier's hand
and pressed it warmly. "I was only doing what I've seen lawyers do," she
said eagerly. "I've got something that I want you to do, and I've been
trying to work up to it. That's all. I'm not as mean and bad mannered
as you think me. I really do care what happens to him--to you both," she
hastened to add.

Struggling to keep back her tears, and in a low voice, Mona rejoined: "I
meant to have told him what I'm going to tell you now. I couldn't say
anything about the money belonging to him till I had told him how it came
to be his."

After a moment' pause she continued: "He told you all about the race
which Flamingo lost, and about that letter." She pointed to the letter
which Kitty still carried in her hand. "Well, that letter was written
under the sting of bitter disappointment. I was vain. I was young.
I did not understand as I do now. If you were not such good friends--
of his--I could not tell you this. It seemed to me that by breaking his
pledge he showed he did not care for me; that he thought he could break a
sacred pledge to me, and it didn't matter. I thought it was treating me
lightly--to do it so soon after the pledge was given. I was indignant.
I felt we weren't as we might be, and I felt, too, that I must be at
fault; but I was so proud that I didn't want to admit it, I suppose, when
he did give me a grievance. It was all so mixed. I was shocked at his
breaking his pledge, I was so vexed that our marriage hadn't been the
success it might have been, and I think I was a little mad."