er, but stirred by a deep and
stern emotion totally unlike his usual transient angers. And suddenly
she understood that, until then, she had never really noticed him or
thought about him. Except on the occasion of his one offense he had been
to her merely the person who is always there, the unquestioned central
fact of life, as inevitable but as uninteresting as North Dormer itself,
or any of the other conditions fate had laid on her. Even then she had
regarded him only in relation to herself, and had never speculated as
to his own feelings, beyond instinctively concluding that he would not
trouble her again in the same way. But now she began to wonder what he
was really like.

He had grasped the back of his chair with both hands, and stood looking
hard at her. At length he said: "Charity, for once let's you and me talk
together like friends."

Instantly she felt that something had happened, and that he held her in
his hand.

"Where is Mr. Harney? Why hasn't he come back? Have you sent him away?"
she broke out, without knowing what she was saying.

The change in Mr. Royall frightened her. All the blood seemed to leave
his veins and against his swarthy pallor the deep lines in his face
looked black.

"Didn't he have time to answer some of those questions last night? You
was with him long enough!" he said.

Charity stood speechless. The taunt was so unrelated to what had been
happening in her soul that she hardly understood it. But the instinct of
self-defense awoke in her.

"Who says I was with him last night?"

"The whole place is saying it by now."

"Then it was you that put the lie into their mouths.--Oh, how I've
always hated you!" she cried.

She had expected a retort in kind, and it startled her to hear her
exclamation sounding on through silence.

"Yes, I know," Mr. Royall said slowly. "But that ain't going to help us
much now."

"It helps me not to care a straw what lies you tell about me!"

"If they're lies, they're not my lies: my Bible oath on that, Charity. I
didn't know where you were: I wasn't out of this house last night."

She made no answer and he went on: "Is it a lie that you were seen
coming out of Miss Hatchard's nigh onto midnight?"

She straightened herself with a laugh, all her reckless insolence
recovered. "I didn't look to see what time it was."

"You lost girl... you... you.... Oh, my God, why did you tell me?" he
broke out, dropping into his chair, his head bowed down like