SANCTUARY
sent Hinton to her with a cheque."
"And she refused it?"
"Yes."
"What did she say?"
"Oh, I don't know—the usual thing. That she'd only wanted to prove she was his wife—on the child's account. That she'd never wanted his money. Hinton said she was very quiet—not in the least excited—but she sent back the cheque."
Kate sat motionless, her head bent, her hands clasped about her knees. She no longer looked at Peyton.
"Could there have been a mistake?" she asked slowly.
"A mistake?"
She raised her head now, and fixed her eyes on his, with a strange insistence of observation. "Could they have been married?"
"The courts did n't think so."
"Could the courts have been mistaken?"
[ 17 ]
