Have you anything further to say ?" She sat looking down on the floor for several minutes.

She had probably, Tallente decided as he watched her, some way of suffering in secret, all the more terrible because of its repression.

When she looked up, her face seemed pinched and older.

Her voice, however, was steady.
"Let us have an understanding," she said.

"You do not desire my return to Martinhoe ?" "I do not," he agreed.
"And what about Cheverton House here ?" "I have nothing to do with it," he replied.