Page:The Fate of Fenella (1892).djvu/194

 Jacynth looked at him as if hesitating.

"For that too," said he deliberately. "She married, in my opinion, the last man in the world who would have made her really happy. But my pity did not run that way. I was thinking of that miserable trial and its consequences."

"Yes, she was a trifle too magnanimous there," said Castleton, believing the other knew all about it. "It would have been better, to my way of thinking, if she had told the broad truth, and let Onslow take his chance."

"His chance!" said Jacynth, staring at him.

"Certainly; it wasn't so bad a chance. He might, he positively would have got off all right. But she chose to take the guilt on her own shoulders, and now she has created an enigma very difficult of solution."

"You mean——" Jacynth paused; he seemed gasping for breath.

"I mean——" suddenly Lord Castleton grew silent, and gazed at his companion with a troubled countenance. "Do you mean," said he, "that you didn't know? Why, you conducted the case for her."

"I know nothing," said Jacynth, with great agitation. "If you can throw any honest light on the matter, do it, I entreat you."

"I hardly know whether I should. I"—Castleton drew back from him—"I was so sure you knew