"I—I know it is silly—"
"Of course; but what is it?"
"They tell me—I know it is an awful falsehood—but they tell me that you are engaged!"
"Well!"
"Well!—you say 'well,' as if it were possible!" cried the girl, looking wildly into his face.
"All things are possible, Judith. But is this the only thing that troubles you?"
"Is not that enough—more than enough? Why do you wait so long before denying it? Why do you look so dark and keen, as if an answer to that slander needed thought? Why don't you speak out?"
"Because I want to know everything that you have heard first, that I may deny it altogether."
"Then you deny it, do you?"
"Not till I have all the rest. When people are down on a man, they do not often stop at one charge. What is the next?"