He rose to his feet and she followed his example; but she would not let him take her back to where the people were, but made him sit down in a recess in the passage outside the drawing-room. She seemed to have fallen into a pensive mood; he was content to sit by her in silence until she spoke again.
"Sidney was very kind, and very helpful to me," she said at last. "I got to like him very much." She was pleading with Ashley in her praise of Hazlewood.
"Oh, yes, I know," he murmured. "Good heavens, you don't think I'm blaming you?"
He had said that to her before; she did not accept it so readily now.
"Yes, you are," she said, with a little temper. "You've set me down for something—as some sort of person. I know you have. You may say that's not blaming, but it's just as bad."
He was surprised at her penetration.
"I suppose you always felt like that really, down in your heart," she added thoughtfully. "But you used to like me."
"I should rather think I did," said Ashley.
"You don't now?"
"Yes, I do."