. "It is not fair to me that I
should make my explanations before--others, but you compel me. I must
admit that I did participate in this vile business; but I was not myself
that night. I was----"

"Yes, you were drunk," said John Castlemaine; "go on."

"I confessed the truth to you," continued Leicester, still keeping his
eyes on Olive. "I told you that this habit had grown upon me; but never
since--since that night--you remember--have I tasted a drop. But--yes,
and you knew my reputation; concerning those things I never deceived
you."

Olive was silent.

"It is true I believed that women were all base, and selfish, and
sordid," he went on. "Yes, I did, and I did not hide my views. Then when
Purvis and Sprague challenged me I confessed my willingness to put them
to the test. I told them to choose the best and noblest woman they knew
of, and----"

"They chose me," said Olive. "I am greatly honoured."

"I did not know you then," said Leicester; "my acquaintance with women
had made me believe that all of them were what I said."

"And yet you were willing to marry one of them," she said quietly.

"No, I would not," he cried. "I simply wanted to prove my words. I would
never have married such a woman."

"But you would seek to win her, and after you had won her you would
discard her. That is even worse than the other."

"Yes, yes," he said bitterly, "I deserve it all, doubtless. Yes, I was
intoxicated if you like, and I made a wager that I would win you as my
wife. I did not know you, and I believed that you were like all other
women. I was told that it was commonly believed that I should have a
brilliant career, and I believed that the prospect of being the wife of
a successful parliamentarian would be sufficient to gain your consent to
being my wife. Yes, I will confess the whole truth. I believed you to be
like the rest of the world; but I did not intend to marry you. I
intended to gain your consent, and----"

"And then drag my name into another drunken orgie," she said, and her
eyes flashed fire. "My name was to be bandied about in the clubs, I was
to be mentioned as one who had proved the truth of Mr. Radford
Leicester's exalted views, I was to be pointed out as one who was to be
won for a wager, and then discarded when the wager was won."

"No," he cried. "Loathsome as was the whole business, it was not so bad
as that. We bound ourselves that no word of the affair should leak out,
not one word. Only thre