‘If you will not listen to me,’ she said, ‘at least attend to what the world says. These papers were sent, under cover, to _me_, this morning. It is my duty, James, to bring them to your attention.’ So saying, she handed to him copies of the ‘Plain Speaker’ and the ‘Whirligig’; they had indeed been sent to her by an anonymous correspondent, who had taken the trouble to mark the obnoxious paragraphs very carefully in red ink. Forster looked at them, and seemed to read them in a dazed, stupefied sort of way; and as he did so shudder after shudder ran through his frame. But he evinced less surprise than his sister had anticipated. ‘Of course, James, you understand these allusions? Do they refer in any way to your wife? In any case, can you explain them?’ ‘_Yes!_ he answered, looking up into her eyes. ‘They refer to Madeline?9 ‘I believe so,’ he answered, rising; ‘and now--oh, God!--I begin to see what has driven my darling away. She feared some infamous persecution; she dreaded these infernal slanders; she read these very words. But I will follow her. I will tell her----’ ‘James, dear James, listen to me!’ ‘Well, well!’ ‘Are these insinuations _true?_ Is there any foundation for the statement that--that when you married Madeline there was something dreadful, of which you knew nothing, in her past life?’ ‘It is a lie!’ cried Forster, with strange energy. ‘She never deceived me--she is incapable of deceit--she is a martyr! Do you think that _I_ doubt her? If you dream so, you little know either of us. She deceived me in nothing.’ ‘But there _was_ some scandal, and you heard of it?’ ‘Whatever there was, _I knew_, answered Forster, firmly; ‘but I will not discuss it--it is sacrilege!’ He made a movement as if to leave the room, but Margaret, who had not yet applied the knife to her own satisfaction, again restrained him. ‘Are you sure you knew everything?’ she demanded sadly. ‘Everything, I mean, before your marriage--and after?’ He turned eagerly and looked at her, for he saw, by her tone and by the expression of her face, that her words meant more than met the ear. ‘After our marriage?’ he repeated. ‘Yes, James. Did Madeline inform you that recently, on two separate occasions, she had meetings with a French gentleman--with the very man, I believe, referred to in these paragraphs?’ ‘She had not! No, it is impossible!’ ‘Then she did not tell you?’ ‘No!’ ‘But it is the truth!’ ‘It is not the truth--I will never believe it.’ ‘I repeat that it is my duty to make you do so,’ said Margaret Forster. ‘Dear James, you must believe it--better now than later on. There is no smoke without fire--no slander without some foundation in fact. May I tell you all I heard?’