“Honestly, I believe she is fonder of him than she realizes herself,” answered Cynthia slowly. “If you asked her, she’d probably tell you that she had never forgotten her first husband and could never care for any one else and she’d think she was speaking the truth, but I saw Sybil once when she was really anxious about Edward and I’m certain she cares far more than people think. You see, I’d just got engaged to John then and I suppose I was in the mood to notice that sort of thing,” she finished, with a swift, shy glance at his intent face. He nodded. “I expect you’re right. At any rate, I’m prepared to trust to your intuition.” He returned to the study of his boot-tips and, for a minute or two, they sat in silence. It was broken by Cynthia. “Then it was Sybil you were worrying about,” she remarked calmly. Fayre jumped. “I have been worrying about her ever since I got back to England,” he began mendaciously; but she interrupted him ruthlessly. “The thing that has been bothering you and that you said you wished you could consult some outside person about has something to do with Edward and Sybil Kean, hasn’t it? I’m not going to ask indiscreet questions, Uncle Fayre, but Sybil’s my friend as well as yours and it’s only fair to tell me if she’s in any real trouble.” Fayre hesitated for a moment and then he spoke frankly. “As I said before, I can’t tell you what it is all about. But I can say this. There is something that, sooner or later, I shall have to tell Edward, something that affects him so nearly that, I honestly believe, were he to hear it now, would cause him to throw up the case. I would do anything to keep the knowledge from him altogether, but I cannot. My only problem is, whether I am justified in keeping this news back till after the trial. That’s what I have been trying to decide and I’ve made up my mind at last. So far as I can see I shall be harming nobody if I hold the news over until after the trial is over, and I have definitely decided to do so. But I’ve got to a point at which I hardly dare trust my own judgment.” “Does Sybil know of this, Uncle Fayre?” “Good Heavens, no! If she did I think it would kill her.” “And it will really make no difference to her if you keep this back till John’s trial is over?” she persisted. “None, that I can see. In fact, my instinct is to put off telling Edward as long as possible, but that’s simply because I shrink from hurting either of them. He’s got to be told in the end, but, what with the impending strain of the trial and all the worry he has gone through on Sybil’s account lately, this seems the worst moment to spring bad news on him. Grey says that the case is one of the first on the list at the Carlisle Assizes and should come on early next month.” At the thought of the trial Cynthia’s face blanched and she clenched her hands tightly on her lap to stop their trembling. Fayre realized that it was kinder to ignore her agitation.