"He said she'd not made at all a good recovery; after leavin' Easedale she'd to go to a nursing home in town, and from there she sent him down a cross and candlesticks for the prison chapel. Scott was quite set up about it, he's a ritualistic little chap; and I suppose they were handsome enough if you like such things, I don't--"

"My good Denis, what have I to do with crosses and candlesticks? Did he say she said anything about me?"

"He did," said Denis, more unwillingly than ever. "He said she asked for your address."

"Oh, confound--! Did he give it?"

"He had to. He said it was no use refusing, as she'd easily have got it out of any one else."

"He said that, did he? Confound him too! I seem to have left several loose ends over this affair. Was that all he told you?"

"Yes. After she wrote with the things he heard no more.""I wonder why she wanted my address," said Gardiner, frowning. "Well, I suppose it must be all right--after all this time."He pulled at his pipe in silence. Happening to glance at Denis, he surprised that look of distaste and repugnance which he had never seen on his friend's face before Easedale. Gardiner was not fond of owning himself in the wrong; few men are, and he less than most. But he spoke out now on impulse.

"Look here, Denis, I know very well I ought to have owned up. I knew it at the time, but I was too beastly scared!--and that's the plain truth. It was the idea of prison; for the moment it knocked all the stuffing out of me--you needn't think I admire myself. And to drag you into it as well--oh, it was a rotten business!"

"You didn't drag me, I dragged myself," said Denis quickly. "If anybody was to blame, it was I."

"You! You'll be telling me you killed him next. No, it's my own funeral--and I've been such a concentrated ass over it, that's what gets me! If I'd told the truth at once, there would have been practically no bother, I'm certain of it. I could have done it then; afterwards, at the inquest, when I wanted to, it was too late. I couldn't tell the tale without its point; and I couldn't tell that particular point when that unhappy little thing had lost both her husband and her kid. No, I don't consider myself to shine in this affair, either in morals or intelligence."

"It was I began it," said Denis obstinately.

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