"Oh, I know!" said he. "You've been making yourself unhappy?"
She waved him away gently, and sat down.
"What was in the note you wrote me?" he asked, standing opposite to her.
"That I could never see you again," she said.
"Oh, come!" Ashley expostulated with a laugh. "That's rather summary, isn't it? What have I done?"
"Irene Kilnorton has been here."
"Ah! And was she disagreeable? She is sometimes—from a sense of duty or what she takes for it."
"Yes, she was disagreeable."
"If that's all—" he began, taking a step forward.