"You have just proved it so," she remarked.
He could not understand her; she seemed to wish to talk and yet hesitated with the words on her lips. After waiting for her to speak further and waiting in vain, he changed the subject back to the one which had at first occupied them.
"I shall be in Marston again," said he; "if you will allow me I will then call again and tell you exactly what I can do for your interest."
"If you will be so kind," she replied, and seemed to breathe easier.
"I have one intimate friend in town," pursued Frank, as he rose to take his departure, "Dr. Sellick. If you know him——"
Why did he pause? She had not moved and yet something, he could not say what, had made an entire change in her attitude and expression. It was as if a chill had passed over her, stiffening her limbs and paling her face, yet her eyes did not fall from his face, and she tried to speak as usual.
"Dr. Sellick?"
"Yes, he has returned to Marston after a year of absence. Have not the gossips told you that?"
"No; that is, I have seen no one—I used to know Dr. Sellick," she added with a vain attempt to be natural. "Is that my sister I hear?" And she turned sharply about.
Up to this moment she had uniformly kept the uninjured side of her face towards him, and he had noticed the fact and been profoundly touched by her seeming sensitiveness. But he was more touched now by the emotion which made her forget herself, for it argued badly for his hopes, and assured him that for all Sellick's assumed indifference, there had been some link of feeling between these two which he found himself illy prepared to accept.