it did matter. It mattered horribly. Because what you thought was not true.' She raised her eyes and met his gaze calmly. Trent, with a completely expressionless face, returned her look.
'Since I began to know you,' he said, 'I have ceased to think it.'
'Thank you,' said Mrs. Manderson; and blushed suddenly and deeply. Then, playing with a glove, she added, 'But I want you to know what was true.
'I did not know if I should ever see you again,' she went on in a lower voice, 'but I felt that if I did I must speak to you about this. I thought it would not be hard to do so, because you seemed to me an understanding person; and besides, a woman who has been married isn't expected to have the same sort of difficulty as a young girl in speaking about such things when it is necessary. And then we did meet again, and I discovered that it was very difficult indeed. You made it difficult.'
'How?' he asked quietly.
'I don't know,' said the lady. 'But yes–I do know. It was just because you treated me exactly as if you had never thought or imagined
