Montague had formed his own opinions about Melmotte. Though connected with the man, he believed their Grand Director to be as vile a scoundrel as ever lived. Mrs Hurtle's enthusiasm was very pretty, and there was something of feminine eloquence in her words. But it was shocking to see them lavished on such a subject. 'Personally, I do not like him,' said Paul.
'I had thought to find that you and he were hand and glove.'
'Oh no.'
'But you are prospering in this business?'
'Yes,--I suppose we are prospering. It is one of those hazardous things in which a man can never tell whether he be really prosperous till he is out of it. I fell into it altogether against my will. I had no alternative.'
'It seems to me to have been a golden chance.'
'As far as immediate results go it has been golden.'
'That at any rate is well, Paul. And now,--now that we have got back into our old way of talking, tell me what all this means. I have talked to no one after this fashion since we parted. Why should our engagement be over? You used to love me, did you not?'
He would willingly have left her question unanswered, but she waited for an answer. 'You know I did,' he said.
'I thought so. This I know, that you were sure and are sure of my love to you. Is it not so? Come, speak openly like a man. Do you doubt me?'
He did not doubt her, and was forced to say so. 'No, indeed.'
'Oh, with what bated, half-mouthed words you speak,--fit for a girl from a nursery! Out with it if you have anything to say against me! You owe me so much at any rate. I have never ill-treated you. I have never lied to you. I have taken nothing from you,--if I have not taken your heart. I have given you all that I can give.' Then she leaped to her feet and stood a little apart from him. 'If you hate me, say so.'
'Winifred,' he said, calling her by her name.
'Winifred! Yes, now for the first time, though I have called you Paul from the moment you entered the room. Well, speak out. Is there another woman that you love?'
At this moment Paul Montague proved that at any rate he was no coward. Knowing the nature of the woman, how ardent, how impetuous she could be, and how full of wrath, he had come at her call intending to tell her the truth which he now spoke. 'There is another,' he said.