That was a lie.

He is down with delirium tremens, and it isn't the first time." "Ah!" Sylvia said.

He had made her understand at last.

She stood for a space staring at him, then with a groping movement she found and grasped the back of a chair.

"Why--why did you lie to me ?" she said.
"I did it for your sake," he answered briefly.