But Thresk would not accept the denial.
"He ill-treats you," he insisted.

"He drinks and ill-treats you." Stella shook her head.
"You asked questions in Bombay where we are known.

You were not told that," she said confidently.

There was only one person in Bombay who knew the truth and Jane Repton, she was very sure, would never have betrayed her.
"That's true," Thresk conceded.

"But why?
Because it's only here in camp that he lets himself go.