Tor sat still, digesting what he had heard. All pointed conclusively to the theory he had formed, that Alfred Belassis had not verified the fact of his first wife’s death, before his marriage with Celia Maynard. He had evidently been summoned home suddenly, to hear of an increase of fortune, and fairly good worldly position, and the prospect of an excellent marriage; and he had not had the honesty or courage to confess that he was already married. A wife like Nelly Roberts would be a millstone round his neck all his life, preventing his ever rising to the standing he might otherwise hope to attain; and with his usual lack of principle, and clumsy cunning, he had trusted that chance would favour him, and that the ex-lady’s-maid would remain in the seclusion where he had left her, and never trouble him more. At the end of seven years he evidently had heard nothing of her, and had then, though obviously with some misgivings, entered a second time into the bonds of ‘holy matrimony.’ ‘Why do you ask all these questions, Philip?’ asked Mrs. Lorraine. ‘What can it matter now, how or when all this happened? I know it was an evil day for all of us when Belassis entered our family; but why do you want to know the details?’ ‘I will tell you why, Aunt Olive. It is a disgraceful story enough, and I do not wish it to go further; but it will be safe with you; and I think one of the family should know it.’ Mrs. Lorraine looked half surprised, half alarmed. ‘What is it, dear boy?’ ‘Did Belassis ever mention a former marriage to your sister, or to anyone?’ ‘A former marriage? Oh dear no! He was not married, and never could have been. He was only about three-and-twenty when he came here, and he lived here seven years before he married. Oh no, he could not have been married before that—it is quite impossible. What makes you ask such a very odd question?’ ‘Because he was married before—he made a low sort of marriage, with a pretty lady’s-maid, only a few months before he appeared at Ladywell.’ And forthwith Tor launched into the history of his visit to Whitbury, and the discovery which had been forced upon him there. Aunt Olive listened aghast, especially when it dawned upon her that her brother-in-law was a much greater rascal than even she had ever before believed, and that he had shamefully deceived her sister. Only too well did she now perceive the cause of his uneasiness before the wedding; and her dismay at the possibility, to which they could not blind themselves, fairly took her breath away.