"Why should I? Nobody wants me."
"Yes, they do. I want you. I want you a great deal more than anybody else. I want you always, and always. Lettice! I say, you're not crying?"
Lettice dashed aside a bright drop, trying to smile.
"Haven't I some reason to cry?"
"Why? What do you mean? Because Mamsie doesn't like you?" Theodosia encouraged him to keep up still the old baby-term, when strangers were not present.
"Because I am accused of doing a thing I did not do; and no one will believe me."
"But I do. You didn't take the money."
"No, I didn't, of course. Only I can't prove it. Do you believe me, really, truly?" She longed to feel that at least one in the house, even a child, put faith in her still: longed it the more, because she was going away.
Keith laughed. "Why, I know you didn't," he said.
"How do you know?"