There was no contempt in them, and though his voice shook, it shook with a great contrition.
"I am much to blame," he said.

"I should have spoken that night at Broad Place, and I held my tongue.

I shall hardly forgive myself." The knowledge that it was Muriel Graham's son who had thus brought ruin and disgrace upon himself was uppermost in the lieutenant's mind.

He felt that he had failed in the discharge of an obligation, self-imposed, no doubt, but a very real obligation none the less.

"You see, I understood," he continued remorsefully.