And then Basil laughed, a short, incisive laugh that cut like the lash of a whip. There are some laughs far more expressive than even the most forceful words, and this was one of that sort. “Let me impress upon you the advisability of implicit truthfulness on your part, Laurence, before we go any further with this,” he said, coldly. “Are you going to be ugly to me!” she exclaimed, joining her hands together protestingly, “and just because I was afraid of your murderous peasants? Are you going to be horrid, Basil dear ... to poor little me?” Basil gulped down something in his throat--possibly the pungence of those flaring lilies--his arm fell limply to his side, and he stared at her in amazement. “You will make a mistake,” he said, slowly, “if you try to go on hoodwinking me. It was well enough in the past, but that sort of thing is done with.” “What do you mean?” she asked, flushing crimson. “What do you mean? When have I tried to hoodwink you?” “For more than five long persevering years. No, don’t interrupt me; wait till I have pointed out a few things to you.” The soft laces about her neck seemed of a sudden to have been transformed into an implacable garotte, and she tore at them with shaking fingers. She was ashy pale now, even to her stiffening lips. He need not have forbidden her to speak, for she could not have done so had she tried. “For over five long weary years,” he quietly resumed, “you have made of me a mere purveyor of luxuries, of pleasures, of amusements. I fully admire your cleverness in raising yourself to the position I gave you; but not, however, the self-sufficiency that caused you to neglect the obligations that position entails. You scarcely showed shrewdness in this respect, but I was ready after a few weeks of your company to take much for granted, to pardon much, and to adopt any _modus-vivendi_ which would make it easier for you and me to keep up the farce of what I, at least, in my imbecility had thought to be a love marriage. I saw your failings; I discovered, one by one, faults I had never believed you capable of, but I thought you at least honest, and so I managed to endure the disappointment of finding in you nothing of what I had expected. I never doubted your honesty, mind you--never once. That saved all!”