"It _is_ the law," returned Mr. Delamayn, as a sufficient answer to him.
Thus far not a word had escaped the master of the house. He sat with his
lips fast closed and his eyes riveted on the table, thinking.
Mr. Kendrew turned to him, and broke the silence.
"Am I to understand," he asked, "that the advice you wanted from me
related to _this?_"
"Yes."
"You mean to tell me that, foreseeing the present interview and the
result to which it might lead, you felt any doubt as to the course you
were bound to take? Am I really to understand that you hesitate to set
this dreadful mistake right, and to make the woman who is your wife in
the sight of Heaven your wife in the sight of the law?"
"If you choose to put it in that light," said Mr. Vanborough; "if you
won't consider--"
"I want a plain answer to my question--'yes, or no.'"
"Let me speak, will you! A man has a right to explain himself, I
suppose?"
Mr. Kendrew stopped him by a gesture of disgust.
"I won't trouble you to explain yourself," he said. "I prefer to leave
the house. You have given me a lesson, Sir, which I shall not forget.
I find that one man may have known another from the days when they were
both boys, and may have seen nothing but the false surface of him in
all that time.
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