"If I understood him aright, if he understood aright, himself, my part, though entirely passive, was none the less effective.

I implore you to observe that I but report his own words.

I say nothing for myself." His lordship's unusual nervousness was steadily increasing.

"He thought, then--so he told me--that my presence here had contributed to his inability to redeem himself in your sight; and unless he were so redeemed, then was redemption nothing." She faced him fully, a frown of perplexity bringing her brows together above her troubled eyes.
"He thought that you had contributed ?" she echoed.

It was clear she asked for enlightenment.