What would she have said if she had known that Mr. Earnscliffe only stayed from curiosity as to what her motive could be in trying to conceal from him the truth about Flora, as he thought it possible that during the evening something might occur to throw light upon it?
After dinner the girls proposed going out, to which their guest gladly assented. Mrs. Elton said she would remain in the house, as she felt a little tired. At the foot of the steps they met a peasant girl with bouquets, and Helena stopped to speak to her, as she had a shrewd suspicion that the bouquet girl did not come unsent. Mr. Earnscliffe and Mary went on and strolled into the alley where they had met in the morning.
Mary looked very handsome. The blue opera cloak which she had thrown round her shoulders showed off to advantage her brilliantly fair skin and auburn hair; and she could not help thinking, as she looked at herself in a glass on passing out, "How strange that he should prefer Flora Adair to me!... I am far more beautiful than she is. What can I do to keep him from her?"
With this question ringing in her ears she went out as we have said. She broke the silence after they entered the alley by saying "Are you going to remain at Capri?"
"I think not—I shall probably start in a day or two."
"And where do you intend to go?"
"I have not fixed upon any place as yet, but southern Italy is becoming too hot."
"And Venice, I suppose, will be cooler!" she answered, bitterly.
"I did not say that I was going to Venice?"
"Of course you did not—you did not wish to acknowledge that you were going to meet the Adairs!"