his, would it not be better and fairer to speak
it out openly than continue to treat me in this slighting fashion? You
are silent, so there is something; pray let's hear it."

"What of Newmarket?" said she, in a low voice, so faint as almost to be
a whisper.

"So that's it," said he, as he folded his arms and looked steadfastly at
her.

There was something in the cold and steady gaze he bestowed upon her
that abashed, if not actually alarmed, Lady Hester. She had seen the
same look once or twice before, and always as the prelude to some
terrible evidence of his temper.

"Lady Hester," said he, in a low, distinct, and very slow voice, as
though he would not have her lose a word he spoke, "the explanation
which a man would ask for at the peril of his life ought not, in common
justice, to be quite costless to a lady. It is perfectly possible that
you may not care for the price, be it so; only I warn you that if you
wish for any information on the subject you allude to, _I_ will inquire
whether--"

Here he dropped his voice, and whispered two or three words rapidly
in her ear, after which she lay back, pale, sick, and almost fainting,
without strength to speak or even to move.

"Do not say, or still less feel, that this contest is of my provoking.
Never was any man less in the humor to provoke hostilities, and
particularly from old friends. I have just had bad luck, the very worst
of bad luck. I have lost everything but my head; and even that, cool and
calculating as it is, may go too if I be pushed too far. Now you have a
frank and free confession from me. I have told you more than I would to
any other living, more, perhaps, than I ought even to you."

"Then what do you intend to do here?" asked she, faintly.

"Wait wait patiently for awhile. Fix upon anyone that I can discover
mutters a syllable to my discredit, and shoot him as I would a dog."

"There may be some who, without openly discussing, will shun your
society, and avoid your intercourse."

"Sir Stafford, for instance," said he, with an insolent laugh. She
nodded slightly, and he went on: "My Lady's influence will, I am
certain, set me right in that quarter."

"I may be unequal to the task."

"You can at least try, madam."

"I have tried, Norwood. I have gone the length of declaring that I
disbelieved every story against you, that I reposed the most implicit
faith in your honor, and that I would certainly receive you and admit
your visits as heret