What business had thee with him, Faith ?" he asked again.

His voice was dry and hard.
Her impulse was to tell the truth, and so for ever have her conscience clear, for there would never be any more need for secrecy.

The wheel of understanding between Eglington and herself had come full circle, and there was an end.

But to tell the truth would be to wound her father, to vex him against Eglington even as he had never yet been vexed.

Besides, it was hard, while Eglington was there, to tell what, after all, was the sole affair of her own life.