But he is not
in a particularly safe mood, and he knows it. He has gone to fight it
out by himself."
Curtis paused, but Sybil did not speak. Her attitude had relaxed. He
read unmistakble relief in every line.
"Well, now," he said deliberately, "I am going to tell you the exact
truth of this business, as Mercer himself has told it to me."
"He wishes me to know it?" she asked quickly.
"He is willing that I should tell you," Curtis answered. "In fact, until
he saw me to-day he believed that you knew it already. That was the
primary cause of his savagery last night. You have probably formed a
very shrewd suspicion of what happened, but it is better for you to know
things as they actually stand. If it makes you hate him--well, it's no
more than he deserves."
"Ah, but I have to live with him," she broke in, with sudden passion.
"It is easy for you to talk of hating him, but I--I am his wife. I must
go on living by his side, whatever I may feel."
"Yes, I know," Curtis said. "But it won't make it any easier for either
of you to feel that there is this thing between you. Even he sees that.
You can't forgive him if you don't know what he has done.
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