utmost apology."
"She would be unlikely to want him now," Hester pointed out. "I certainly shouldn't. It might make me feel better to have him offer, but I would most certainly decline."
"I suggested that," Rathbone explained. "He was afraid she might not decline and then he would be back in his present situation, and he refuses absolutely to go through with it, but he will not tell me why."
Hester burst into laughter, then controlled herself again instantly.
"How marvelously arrogant!" she exclaimed. "She would be quite mad to accept him in those circumstances. All it would do would be to give her the opportunity to be the one to turn him down. There has to be more to it than you have been told."
"Perhaps he is already married?" Gabriel suggested. "Perhaps it is unhappy, an arrangement over which he had little control, a family obligation, and he has run away from it, fallen in love with her, but now realizes he cannot commit bigamy. Only he does not tell anyone, because he does not wish his wife to find out." He looked pleased with himself, forgetting to be conscious of his disfigurement.
"That is quite plausible," Rathbone thought aloud. "Providing his family are some considerable distance away, perhaps Scotland or Ireland. He is bent on making a name for himself in London."
"Has his eye on someone higher," Athol said dismissively. "More money, better connected family."
"Well, he is ruining his chances completely by losing a suit for breach of promise," Gabriel pointed out. He looked at Rathbone. "Didn't you say this young lady is an heiress?"
"Yes, very considerable," Rathbone agreed. He turned back to Hester. "And I have the strong impression that his emotion is fear, even panic, rather than greed. He is quite aware that this girl's father is ideally placed to assist him in his career, and has done so already. No, he is definitely a man caught in a situation which is intolerable to him, but I don't know why!"
Athol snorted. "If he won't tell you, then it is something he is ashamed of! An honorable man would explain himself."
It was a very bald statement, without sensitivity or allowance, and yet before Rathbone could frame a contradiction, he realized it was true. Were there not something profoundly wrong, real or imaginary, Melville would have explained his situation to Rathbone, if not to Zillah Lambert.
"Perhaps he is in love with somebody else?" Hester suggested.
"Then why doesn't he simply tell me?" Rathbone continued. "It is a plain enough thing to understand. I might not agree, but I would know what arguments I was facing."
Hester thought for a moment.
"Cannot always have what you want just because you want it," Athol observed sourly. "There is such a thing as duty."
"Maybe it is someone he cannot approach?" Hester looked up at Rathbone, who was still standing, as Athol was, because there was no suitable place to sit.
"Cannot approach?" Rathbone repeated. "Why not? You mean someone already married? Perhaps a close friend of-" He stopped just before he mentioned the Lamberts' name.
"Why not?" she agreed. "Or..."
"It happens," he said, shaking his head. "That is not anything to be ashamed of. It is simply awkward, possibly embarrassing, but not worth this public disgrace."
"What about her mother?"
"What?" Rathbone was incredulous. The idea was inconceivable.
Athol misunderstood completely. "Don't suppose the poor woman knows," he put in. "Wouldn't have brought the action if she did." He shook his head, his face still bland and certain.
"Hester means what if the man is in love with the girl's mother," Gabriel enlightened him. "And even if she did know, it wouldn't stop her bringing the suit, because she will hardly be likely to tell the father, will she?"
"Good God!" Athol was astounded.
Rathbone collected his wits. "I suppose it's possible," he said slowly, remembering Delphine's lovely face, her delicacy, the grace with which she moved. Melville would not be the first young man to fall in love with an older woman. It had never entered Rathbone's thoughts, and even now he found it exceedingly difficult. Delphine had seemed so genuinely betrayed. But then maybe she had no idea.
Hester's mind was racing ahead. "Or perhaps the girl is in love with someone else and your client knows it," she suggested. "It could be a matter of honor with him, the greatest gift to her he could give... and she dare not tell her parents, if this other person is unsuitable. Or on the other hand, it might be pride-he could not marry a woman he knew