Did you ever talk to Stella"-- the Christian name slipped naturally from him and only Jane Repton of the two remarked that he had used it--"of that incident in the library at Agra ?" "Yes." "And did she in consequence of what you told her give you any account of her life with her husband ?" Mrs.Repton hesitated not because she was any longer in doubt as to whether she would speak the whole truth or not--she had committed herself already too far--but because the form of the question nettled her.

It was a little too forensic for her taste.

She was anxious to know the man; she could dispense with the barrister altogether.
"Yes, she did," she replied, "and don't cross-examine me, please." "I beg your pardon," said Thresk with a laugh which made him human on the instant.
"Well, it's true," said Jane Repton in a rush.

"She told me the truth--what you know and more.

He stripped when he was drunk, stripped to the skin.