And--understand me, Mr.Thresk"-- he checked his speech and weighed his words very carefully--"I wouldn't say that he shouldn't marry Stella Ballantyne just because Stella Ballantyne has lain under a grave charge of which she has been acquitted.

No, I may be as formal as my brother-in-law thinks, but I hold a wider faith than that.

But I am not satisfied.

That is the truth, Mr.Thresk.I am not sure of what happened in that tent in far-away Chitipur after you had ridden away to catch the night mail to Bombay." Robert Pettifer had made his confession simply and with some dignity.
Thresk looked at him for a few moments.

Was he wondering whether he could answer the questions?
Was he hesitating through anger at the trick which had been played upon him?
Pettifer could not tell.