I shall come to-night, and you will tell me what has happened." So they parted, and Waymark somehow or other whiled away the time till it was the hour for going to the court.

He found it difficult to realise the situation; so startling and brought about so suddenly.
Julian had been the first to put into words the suspicion of them both, that it was all a deliberate plot of Harriet's; but he had not been able to speak of his own position freely enough to let Waymark understand the train of circumstances which could lead Harriet to such resoluteness of infamy.

Waymark doubted.

But for the unfortunate fact of Ida's secret necessities, he could perhaps scarcely have entertained the thought of her guilt.

What was the explanation of her being without employment?
Why had she hesitated to tell him, as soon as she lost her work?
Was there not some mystery at the bottom of this, arguing a lack of complete frankness on Ida's part from the first?
The actual pain caused by Ida's danger was, strange to say, a far less important item in his state of mind than the interest which the situation inspired.