And then, slowly and subtly at first, came even the suspicion of her. Was it possible that she had been the dupe of her father? Was it possible that Ervine very neatly and cleverly had Sir Charles hoist with his own petard, making the young housemaster of Lavery's at the same time his own son-in-law? And if so, had Helen played up to the game? The thought tortured him evilly. He felt it to be such an ignoble one that he must never breathe it to Helen, lest it should be utterly untrue. Yet to keep it to himself was not the best way of getting rid of it. It grew within him like a cancer; it filled all the unoccupied niches of his mind; it made him sick with apprehension. And then, at last, on Christmas Eve he was cruel to her. There had been a large party at Beachings Over and she had been very shy and nervous all the evening. And now, after midnight, when they had gone up to their bedroom, he said, furiously: "What was the matter with you all to-night?" She said: "Nothing." He said: "Funny reason for not speaking a word all the evening. Whatever must people have thought of you?" "I don't know. I told you I should be nervous. I can't help it. You shouldn't have brought me if you hadn't been prepared for it." "You might have at least said you'd got a headache and gone off to bed." She said, frightenedly: "Oh, Kenneth, Kenneth, what's the matter--why are you talking to me like this?" "I hope I'm not being unfair," he replied, imperturbably. She flung herself on the bed and began to sob. He went on unfastening his dress tie and thinking: She married me because my father has money. She married me because her father told her to. She schemed to get me. The housemastership was a plant to get me married to her before I knew whether I really wanted her or not. He was carefully silent the whole rest of the night, though it was hard to lie awake and hear her sobbing. IV