In spite of themselves they both broke into a laugh. Lydia’s ended in sobs and she sank down with her face hidden. Gannett bent over her, seeking her hands. “That vile woman--I ought to have warned you to keep away from her; I can’t forgive myself! But he spoke to me in confidence; and I never dreamed--well, it’s all over now.” Lydia lifted her head. “Not for me. It’s only just beginning.” “What do you mean?” She put him gently aside and moved in her turn to the window. Then she went on, with her face turned toward the shimmering blackness of the lake, “You see of course that it might happen again at any moment.” “What?” “This--this risk of being found out. And we could hardly count again on such a lucky combination of chances, could we?” He sat down with a groan. Still keeping her face toward the darkness, she said, “I want you to go and tell Lady Susan--and the others.” Gannett, who had moved towards her, paused a few feet off. “Why do you wish me to do this?” he said at length, with less surprise in his voice than she had been prepared for. “Because I’ve behaved basely, abominably, since we came here: letting these people believe we were married--lying with every breath I drew--” “Yes, I’ve felt that too,” Gannett exclaimed with sudden energy. The words shook her like a tempest: all her thoughts seemed to fall about her in ruins. “You--you’ve felt so?” “Of course I have.” He spoke with low-voiced vehemence. “Do you suppose I like playing the sneak any better than you do? It’s damnable.” He had dropped on the arm of a chair, and they stared at each other like blind people who suddenly see. “But you have liked it here,” she faltered. “Oh, I’ve liked it--I’ve liked it.” He moved impatiently. “Haven’t you?” “Yes,” she burst out; “that’s the worst of it--that’s what I can’t bear. I fancied it was for your sake that I insisted on staying--because you thought you could write here; and perhaps just at first that really was the reason. But afterwards I wanted to stay myself--I loved it.” She broke into a laugh. “Oh, do you see the full derision of it? These people--the very prototypes of the bores you took me away from, with the same fenced--in view of life, the same keep-off-the-grass morality, the same little cautious virtues and the same little frightened vices--well, I’ve clung to them, I’ve delighted in them, I’ve done my best to please them. I’ve toadied Lady Susan, I’ve gossiped with Miss Pinsent, I’ve pretended to be shocked with Mrs. Ainger. Respectability! It was the one thing in life that I was sure I didn’t care about, and it’s grown so precious to me that I’ve stolen it because I couldn’t get it in any other way.” She moved across the room and returned to his side with another laugh.