"You did!"
"Yes—you were very poor Secret-keepers, Prue; clumsy Adepts in Concealment! I guessed, ever since he went, that that Glass Ring was a Love-token."
Prue blushed very deeply. "Ah," said she, fluttering, and looking with downcast Fondness on the slighted Bauble, "it is a Love-token, indeed, Mother! and even more than that."
"What more?" said my Mother quickly. Prudence was silent.
"You don't mean, Prudence," with some Agitation in her Tone, "that it's a Wedding Ring?"
"What if it were, dear Mother?" (faltering)—"Should you be very angry?"
"I should be angry and hurt—deeply hurt!"
"Ah—" Prue, who was kneeling beside my Mother, turned her Head aside and looked into the Fire.
"Speak, Patty!" said my Mother, much perturbed, "and tell me if you can—since your Sister will not—Has there been a Marriage?"