Apparently she valued this reticence.
"You condemn me ?" she asked at length.

"Because I live alone, because quiet rumor wags a tongue, you will judge me by your own creed and not by mine ?" I hesitated before I answered, and deliberated.

"Madam, I have already told you that I would not.

I say once more that I accredit you with living up to your own creed, whatever that may have been." She drew a long breath in turn.

"Monsieur, you have done yourself no ill turn in that." "It was rumored in diplomatic circles, of course, that you were in touch with the ministry of England," I ventured.