`But really? I want my wife, and I see no reason for letting her go. If she likes to bear a child under my roof, she is welcome, and the child is welcome: provided that the decency and order of life is preserved. Do you mean to tell me that Duncan Forbes has a greater hold over you? I don't believe it.'
There was a pause.
`But don't you see,' said Connie. `I must go away from you, and I must live with the man I love.'
`No, I don't see it! I don't give tuppence for your love, nor for the man you love. I don't believe in that sort of cant.'
`But you see, I do.'
`Do you? My dear Madam, you are too intelligent, I assure you, to believe in your own love for Duncan Forbes. Believe me, even now you really care more for me. So why should I give in to such nonsense!'
She felt he was right there. And she felt she could keep silent no longer.
`Because it isn't Duncan that I do love,' she said, looking up at him.
`We only said it was Duncan, to spare your feelings.'
`To spare my feelings?'
`Yes! Because who I really love, and it'll make you hate me, is Mr Mellors, who was our game-keeper here.'
If he could have sprung out of his chair, he would have done so. His face went yellow, and his eyes bulged with disaster as he glared at her.
Then he dropped back in the chair, gasping and looking up at the ceiling.
At length he sat up.
`Do you mean to say you re telling me the truth?' he asked, looking gruesome.
`Yes! You know I am.'
`And when did you begin with him?'
`In the spring.'
He was silent like some beast in a trap.
`And it was you, then, in the bedroom at the cottage?'
So he had really inwardly known all the time.
`Yes!'
He still leaned forward in his chair, gazing at her like a cornered beast.
`My God, you ought to be wiped off the face of the earth!'
`Why?' she ejaculated faintly.
But he seemed not to hear.