She dropped into a chair, and turned her back on
me, and covered her face with her hands.
I waited a little before I trusted myself to say any more. In that
moment of silence, I hardly know which I felt most keenly--the sting
which her contempt had planted in me, or the proud resolution which shut
me out from all community with her distress.
"If you will not speak first," I said, "I must. I have come here with
something serious to say to you. Will you do me the common justice of
listening while I say it?"
She neither moved, nor answered. I made no second appeal to her; I
never advanced an inch nearer to her chair. With a pride which was as
obstinate as her pride, I told her of my discovery at the Shivering
Sand, and of all that had led to it. The narrative, of necessity,
occupied some little time. From beginning to end, she never looked round
at me, and she never uttered a word.
I kept my temper. My whole future depended, in all probability, on my
not losing possession of myself at that moment. The time had come to
put Mr. Bruff's theory to the test. In the breathless interest of trying
that experiment, I moved round so as to place myself in front of her.
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