A man who would strike a woman would kill her--if he had the nerve." Stark had now mastered himself, and smiled.
"My hate worked better than I thought.

Well, well, that made it hard for you, didn't it ?" he chuckled.

"I supposed, of course, you knew--" "Knew ?" Gale's face showed emotion for the first time.

"Knew what-- ?" His hands were quivering slightly.
"She killed herself." "So help you God ?" "So help me God!" There was a long pause.
"Why ?" "Say, it's kind of funny our standing here talking about that thing, isn't it?
Well, if you want to know, I came home early that night--I guess you hadn't been gone two hours--and the surprise did it, more than anything else, I suppose--she hadn't prepared a story.

I got suspicious, named you at random, and hit the nail on the head.