"So I have heard." Anstice's tone was strictly non-committal, and after a glance at his impassive face Carstairs went on speaking.
"You must forgive me for reminding you that Mrs. Carstairs never categorically denied the charges made. That is to say, she implied that any such denial was, or should be, unnecessary; and it seemed as though her pride forbade her realizing how unsatisfactory her silence was--to others."
"Forgive me, Major Carstairs." Anstice took advantage of a momentary pause. "May I not just suggest that a categorical denial was unnecessary? Surely to anyone who knew her, Mrs. Carstairs' silence must have been sufficient refutation of the charge?"
He was almost sorry for his impulsive words when he noted their effect. Major Carstairs' naturally florid complexion turned grey; and his whole face grew suddenly aged. In that moment Anstice felt that his speech, with its implied rebuke, had been both impertinent and unjust; yet he hardly knew how to repair his error without committing still another breach of good taste.
Accordingly he said nothing; and after a moment had passed Major Carstairs spoke with something of an effort.
"I am glad to see my wife has found a champion in you," he said, with a smile which Anstice felt to be forced. "And even although as a partisan of hers you naturally think me cruel and unjust, may I ask you to believe that I would give years--literally years--of my life to be able to think myself mistaken in my first judgment of that unhappy affair!"
The note of passion in the last words moved Anstice powerfully; and he forgot his own delicate position in a sudden quite unusual desire to justify himself.
"Major Carstairs, forgive me if I seem to you impertinent, meddlesome. I know quite well that this is no business of mine, but--but I know Mrs. Carstairs, and I know she has been made bitterly unhappy by this wretched misunderstanding. And I am sure, as sure as I am that you and I sit here to-day, that she never wrote one word of all those beastly letters--why, I can almost prove it to you, if you really care for such proof--and then----"
He stopped short, arrested by the change in Carstairs' face. His eyes suddenly blazed with a new and startling fire; and the hand which had been idly playing with a glass clenched itself into a determined fist.
"My God, man, what are you saying? If you can prove my wife to be innocent, why in God's name do you let me sit here in Purgatory?"