She had left him, on her return to England, and had refused to consent to any of the future meetings between them which he besought her to grant.
At this stage in the narrative, Mountjoy felt compelled to ask questions more searching than he had put to Iris yet.

It was possible that she might be trusting her own impressions of Lord Harry, with the ill-placed confidence of a woman innocently self-deceived.
"Did he submit willingly to your leaving him ?" Mountjoy said.
"Not at first," she replied.
"Has he released you from that rash engagement, of some years since, which pledged you to marry him ?" "No." "Did he allude to the engagement, on this occasion ?" "He said he held to it as the one hope of his life." "And what did you say ?" "I implored him not to distress me." "Did you say nothing more positive than that ?" "I couldn't help thinking, Hugh, of all that he had tried to do to save Arthur.

But I insisted on leaving him--and I have left him." "Do you remember what he said at parting ?" "He said, 'While I live, I love you.'" As she repeated the words, there was an involuntary change to tenderness in her voice which was not lost on Mountjoy.
"I must be sure," he said to her gravely, "of what I tell your father when I go back to him.

Can I declare, with a safe conscience, that you will never see Lord Harry again ?" "My mind is made up never to see him again." She had answered firmly so far.

Her next words were spoken with hesitation, in tones that faltered.