Now or never would she read
the enigma. She would know the truth, cost what it might.
"What I mean is this," said Nick. "You won't own it, of course, but
you are cheating, and you are afraid to stop. There isn't one woman in
ten thousand who has the pluck to throw down the cards when once she
has begun to cheat. She goes on--as you will go on--to the end of her
life, simply because she daren't do otherwise. You are out of the
straight, Muriel. That's why everything is such a hideous failure. You
are going to marry the wrong man, and you know it."
He looked up at her again for an instant as he said it. He had spoken
with his usual shrewd decision, but there was no hint of excitement
about him. He might have been discussing some matter of a purely
impersonal nature.
Muriel stood mutely poking holes in the sand. She could find nothing
to say to this matter-of-fact indictment.
"And now," Nick proceeded, "I will tell you why you are doing it."
She started at that, and looked up with flaming cheeks. "I don't think
I want to hear any more, Nick. It--it's rather late in the day, isn't
it?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I knew you would be afraid to face it.
It's easier, isn't it, to go on cheating?"
Her eyes gleamed for a moment. He had flicked a tender place.
"Very well," she said proudly.
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