Will you let me go now, please ?" Bryce stood aside and lifted his hat, and Mary, with no more than a nod, walked on towards the golf club-house across the Common, while Bryce turned off to the town, highly elated with his morning's work.

He had sown the seeds of uneasiness and suspicion broadcast--some of them, he knew, would mature.
Mary Bewery played no golf that morning.

In fact, she only went on to the club-house to rid herself of Bryce, and presently she returned home, thinking.

And indeed, she said to herself, she had abundant food for thought.

Naturally candid and honest, she did not at that moment doubt Bryce's good faith; much as she disliked him in most ways she knew that he had certain commendable qualities, and she was inclined to believe him when he said that he had kept silence in order to ward off consequences which might indirectly be unpleasant for her.