Leo was very pale, and an angry cloud came over his countenance. He turned round with an impulse of indignation towards the young man who forced this upon him. ‘My mother,’ he said, ‘may be mistaken; she is human, like the rest of us. In the meantime, I think you are showing little knowledge of human nature, Pakenham. Do you think that lady whom you saw to-day could have lived as she has done for all these years under a burden of shame? and could look as she does if she knew that she might be found out any day?’ ‘Women are dreadful hypocrites,’ said Lord Will. ‘They can face things out in a way no man could do. Why, I’ve seen at home how things can be faced out--and no doubt so have you, too.’ ‘She is not of the kind to face things out.’ ‘Oh, I quite acknowledge she’s a stunner, and all that. Reason the more why she should hold her own, and refuse to understand if a fellow dared to put a question--oh, not that I should ever dare to do that. I’m no more a coward than most other people, but say to a woman like that that I believed she wasn’t rightly married, I’d sooner jump into the river any day with a bullet at my heel.’ ‘Which means simply that your inner man--the better part of you--is aware of the fact, which, for your interest, you would like to deny: that is all about it. I advise you to drop the idea, like a hot potato, as they say here. It is not true.’ ‘Prove that it isn’t true, and I’ll not say another word.’ ‘I prove it by simply pointing to the lady in question,’ said Leo hotly. ‘Oh, that! but even if I were to take that view, she mightn’t know, herself. She might be deceived as well as the rest.’ A look of sudden alarm came upon Leo’s face. Lady William was a person of high intelligence, but she was not a woman of the world. In the quick look he gave upward, in his way of returning to his aimless play, and the impatience with which he struck again the innocent balls, sending them coursing to every corner, the trouble of his mind might be guessed. This gave his visitor fresh courage. ‘You needn’t fear, Swinford,’ he said, ‘that I’ll bully a--person like that. Whatever her position may be, there’s nothing common about her, that’s clear. I’ll give our man a hint. Get it all clear about marriage and all that, and the proof of the child’s birth and so forth--all in the way of business. You may trust me for that: not a word to her, but just what’s necessary between the two solicitors, don’t you know. I think now I’m going to bed.’ ‘I advise you,’ said Leo, taking care not to see his companion’s hand stretched out to him, ‘to be careful how you discount your hopes. Do not count your eggs, as they say here, till they are hatched.’ ‘You mean the chickens: and I should not dream of putting the fifty thousand pounds in my own pocket. Why, man alive, it’s not for me! I shan’t get twenty thousand farthings of it, nor anything like that.’