"Listen to the whole, Anne, before you judge me. What has been your
promise to me, over and over again?--that, if I would tell you my sorrow,
_you_ would never shrink from me, whatever it might be."
She remembered it, and stood still; terribly rebellious, clasping her
fingers to pain, one within the other.
"In that respect, at any rate, I did not willingly sin. When I married
Maude I had no suspicion that I was not free as air; free to marry her,
or any other woman in the world."
"You speak in enigmas," she said faintly.
"Sit down, Anne, whilst I give you the substance of the tale. Not its
details until I am more myself, and that voice"--pointing to the next
room--"is not sounding in my ears. You shall hear all later; at least, as
much as I know myself; I have never quite believed in it, and it has been
to me throughout as a horrible dream."
Indeed Mr. Carr seemed to be having no inconsiderable amount of trouble,
to judge by the explosions of wrath on the part of the dowager.
She sat down as he told her, her face turned from him, rebellious
at having to listen, but curious yet. Lord Hartledon stood by the
mantelpiece and shaded his eyes with his hand.
"Send your thoughts into the past, Anne; you may remember that an
accident happened to me in Scotland. It was before you and I were
engaged, or it would not have happened. Or, let me say, it might not;
for young men are reckless, and I was no better than others.
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