You believed it because the world did.

Denial on my part would merely have called forth laughter.

Why not?
When a man who has money and power takes charge of a pretty, penniless woman and pays her bills, the pose of Joseph or Galahad is not a good one for him.

My statement would no more have been believed than yours will be believed if you can produce no proof.

What you say is what any girl might say in your dilemma, what I should have said would have been what any man might have said.