She hesitated for a moment. Perhaps she was calling back her
self-possession, which had been startled. At any rate, when she spoke
again, it was more quietly.
"This is interesting. May I hear more?"
"I mean you to. I said that Claudia was jealous of you. That was
because she discovered my secret. Helen, it has been madness, from
beginning to end--our break-off, our fancying we had ceased to care, our
taking up with others. Don't let us play any longer. My step is taken,
take yours, and let us be married next month."
"You mean," she said slowly, "I am to throw over--"
"Oh, that fellow!" he exclaimed. "You're not engaged to him, you know
very well, not seriously, and if you were, you care for me fifty times
as well. Deny it if you can!"
"Oh!" she said, with a gasp, "you think so?"
"Think? I'm as certain as that I'm here."
His sense of mastery made him almost indifferent to pleading. Each
sentence breathed triumph. Miss Arbuthnot caught her breath, and turned
her face towards him.