She put out her hand to him, and, stooping over her, he kissed her with more tenderness than he always showed. Their engagement had left almost untouched the easy unsentimental attitude of earlier days.
“Well,” he said, and Katherine understood and resented somewhat the quick attack of the absorbing subject. She shook her head.
“Bad news, Peter. Bad and very unexpected.”
Odd stood upright and looked at her.
“Bad!” he repeated.
“She refused him,” Katherine said tersely, and her glance turned once more from the fire to Peter’s face. He looked at her silently.
“She is a foolish baby,” added Katherine.
“She refused him—definitely?”
“Quite. She had to face the music last night, of course. Mamma and papa were rather—shabby—let us say, in their disinterested disappointment.” Odd flushed a little at the cool cynicism of Katherine’s tone. “She told me, when I removed her from the battlefield, that she doesn’t love him and never will. So, of course, from every high and mighty point of view she is right, quite right.”
Katherine’s eyes returned contemplatively to the fire. Odd was still silent.