I strongly desire to fulfill the obligation your goodness
has laid upon me, though I can never discharge it. For the sake
of that obligation--for your sake, I am risking much--namely,
your opinion of me."
He made a gesture of impatience.
"I _know_ Miss Yolland to be a woman without principle. I
know it by the testimony of my own eyes, and from her own
confession. She is capable of playing a cold-hearted, cruel game
for her own ends. Be persuaded to consult Mr. Redmain before you
commit yourself. Ask him if Miss Yolland is fit to be the wife of
an honest man."
There was nothing in Godfrey's countenance but growing rage.
Turning to the door, Mary would have gone without another word.
"Stay!" cried Godfrey, in a voice of suppressed fury. "Do not
dare to go until I have told you that you are a vile slanderer. I
knew something of what I had to expect, but you should never have
entered this room had I known how far your effrontery could carry
you. Listen to me: if anything more than the character of your
statement had been necessary to satisfy me of the falsehood of
every word of it, you have given it me in your reference to Mr.
Redmain--a man whose life has rendered him unfit for the
acquaintance, not to say the confidence of any decent woman. This
is a plot--for what final object, God knows--between you and him!
I should be doing my duty were I to expose you both to the public
scorn you deserve.
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