Tess was quite sure that Tom had not picked the letter up, but there
was no need to betray her knowledge.

"Do you mean you'd have opened a letter you picked up in my garden?"
she demanded.

His eyes accepted her challenge.

"Why not?"

"But why? Surely--"

"Necessity, dear lady, knows no law. That's one of the first axioms of
diplomacy. Consider your husband as a case in point. Custom, which
is the basis of nearly all law, says he ought to be here entertaining your
guests. Necessity, ignoring custom, obliges him to stay in the hills and
supervise the blasting, disappointing every one but me. I'm going to
take advantage of his necessity."

If he had seen the swift glance she gave him he might have changed
the course of one small part of history. Tess knew nothing of the intrigue
he was engaged in, and did not propose to be keeper of his secrets;
if he had glimpsed that swift betrayal of her feelings he would certainly
not have volunteered further confidences. But the poison of ambition
blinds all those who drink it, so that the "safest" men unburden themselves
to the wrong unwilling ears.

"Walk with me up and down the path where every one can see us, won't you?"

"Why?" she laughed. "Do you flatter yourself I'd be afraid to be caught