Yes, Tony was a woman come into her kingdom, proud, sweet, compassionate and strong. Quentin Lowe had made her this in the short weeks of his love. Unworthy little cad as he was, he had yet been able to raise her from girlhood to womanhood, to crown her with the diadem of her heritage....
"Tony," cried Nigel, caught in a sudden storm of impulse, "do you love Quentin Lowe?"
"Love him!--why, of course.... Let's move on."
"You're not angry with me?--I have my reason for asking."
"No, I'm not angry. But what reason can you have?"
"I remember," said Nigel desperately, "what you told me six months ago. You said you couldn't forgive...."
The colour rushed to his face, but he fought on.
"There is something which I think you ought to know about him."
She spoke sharply, but not quite so sharply as he had expected.
"Miss Strife--it's very difficult for me ... but I think I ought----"
"I suppose," she said, her voice faltering a little, "you're trying to tell me--you think you ought to tell me--that Quentin hasn't always been quite--quite worthy of himself. I know."
There was silence, broken only by the swish of their footsteps through the grass.
"How did you know?--Who told you?" cried Furlonger suddenly.
"Don't mistake me. I--I didn't love her--not in that way, I mean. But, Tony--who told you?"
"Why are you so surprised? It was right that he should tell me."
"Of course. But I--I didn't think he would."
Tony hesitated a moment--it struck Nigel that she was considering how far she ought to take him into her confidence. The thought humiliated him.
"He did tell me," she said after a pause, "he told me everything, one night, nearly three weeks ago, just before your brother died. He suddenly came to Shovelstrode--very late, after we had all gone upstairs. He wanted to see me--and I came down ... oh, I shall never forget it! He was standing there, all white and tired--and very wet, as if he'd been lying in the grass. He tried to speak, but he couldn't--and I was frightened, like a silly ass, and I cried ... and then he told me all about himself--and this girl."
"You told him to go!"--his voice had a hungry catch in it.
Anxiety and scorn strove together in him.
"Because it's paltry and weak of you--he doesn't deserve your forgiveness--and you've no right to forgive him for what he did to another woman."