"No one could tell me where to look for you. Of all places in the world, how could I expect to find you here?"
"You have been to the old house?" said Judith. "Is this true? Tell me, is it the truth?"
"The truth!" repeated Storms, with a look of amazement. "What should prevent me going as usual?"
"Nothing but your own will. Nothing but—"
"But what, Judith?"
"But her—the girl that lives in the park at 'Norston's Rest.'"
"That story again! How often shall I be called upon to tell you it is sheer gossip?"
"But you told it yourself to the landlord at our village."
"Not as a fact; but amusing myself with the absurd things that are said about one; things that one repeats and laughs about with the first man he meets."
Judith bent her eyes downward; their proud defiance was extinguished; the heaviness of repentant shame fell upon her. Before she could speak, a call outside startled them both. Storms broke off the interview with some hurried snatches of direction.