Eve and Fred arrive with Mrs. Van Brugh, and the young couple go out to the garden together. Mrs. Van Brugh confesses to Smailey that she believes that a flaw in the will may have left her penniless. Smailey reveals that he knows this and accuses her of being part of wilful bigamy with her "husband", as his first wife died after Mrs. Van Brugh married him. She tearfully confesses that she had never married him, but merely lived with him as his wife. Smailey is shocked at this and leaps to the attack, insisting, despite her pleas for mercy, that he "will spare her nothing" and that she must confess all, even to her own daughter. She pleads with him, offering to sign any deed he asks, to spare her the shame, but he holds a public announcement of her acts over her head if she does not submit to his will. She pleads further, holding up all her good deeds as evidence of her atonement. Smailey retorts that all her good works spring from her desire for forgiveness and taunts her with her previous criticisms of his own hard-heartedness. She cries "enough", and, rallying, takes the shame onto herself in her own terms: "So let it be. You are strong – for you have the world on your side. I am weak – for I am alone. If I am to die this moral death, it shall be by my own hand." She calls everyone to her, asks Eve to kiss her once more before the truth is revealed, then confesses all. Eve faints into Ted's arms. Ruth recoils, and Smailey and Fred watch, emotionless.