"I know you will misunderstand me, and fly at me, and scratch me, and do all sorts of pretty things." Her ladyship sighed; her tone breathed resignation. "You needn't be afraid." "I'm not; only--Vi, if you only knew how sorry I am for you." "I don't want your sorrow." "Vi, I am afraid that your Sydney Beaton is a bad lot." "Don't you dare to say it--you!" "You can't believe that he isn't." "I can, and I do." "Was he Jane Simmons's catspaw, or was Jane Simmons his? I presume they were confederates. Only that could explain the little talk you had with her." The girl clenched her fists; she drew a great breath. "Margaret, I want to tell you just how it is with me." "Tell on." "I'd give--I'd jump at the chance of marrying him to-morrow." "I'll do you the justice to say that I don't believe you. Even if you're a lunatic, you can't be absolutely raving." "Let me explain." "With pleasure. Your remark will need all the explanation you can lay your hands on." "Do you know what it is--to love a man?" "I'm rather fond of mine." "Fond!" Nothing could have exceeded the scorn which the girl's manner was meant to convey. "Do you know what it is for your love for a man to have become so part and parcel of your being that life means nothing without him?" "I'm glad to say I don't." "Then, I do. So that, you see, is where we differ." "Poor Vi!" "Don't talk nonsense, Margaret; there's no poverty in such a state as mine. I'm far richer than you, because I have the only thing which life has to offer worth having. Don't speak; let me continue. You've read the fairy tale in which the heroine gets the gift of sight--it's an allegory. She meets one person in whose nature there is nothing hidden from her; she can see into his very heart. Now start laughing: I can see into Sydney Beaton's very heart." "My dear, I'm very far from laughing. You're not the only girl who has thought she had that gift where a particular man was concerned. What would the police have said if they had caught the gentleman you name in the very act? You know, they don't consider motives, or peer into hearts; they only deal with facts." "You don't understand." "Well, make me." "Aren't I trying to? But you will keep interrupting. Sydney has never been exactly wise----" "So you've told me." The girl took no heed of the interruption; she only glared. "But I will answer for his standard of honour, and honesty, as I would for my own." "I wouldn't."