'Won't you sit down?'
He did not notice that her voice was strange, nor that she kept her eyes
averted.
'How lazy you are,' he cried. 'You haven't got the tea.'
'Mr Burdon, I have something to say to you. It will cause you very great
pain.'
He observed now the hoarseness of her tone. He sprang to his feet, and
a thousand fancies flashed across his brain. Something horrible had
happened to Margaret. She was ill. His terror was so great that he could
not speak. He put out his hands as does a blind man. Susie had to make an
effort to go on. But she could not. Her voice was choked, and she began
to cry. Arthur trembled as though he were seized with ague. She gave him
the letter.
'What does it mean?'
He looked at her vacantly. Then she told him all that she had done that
day and the places to which she had been.
'When you thought she was spending every afternoon with Mrs Bloomfield,
she was with that man. She made all the arrangements with the utmost
care. It was quite premeditated.'
Arthur sat down and leaned his head on his hand.
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