"It's such a shame! Oh, you don't think I had anything to do with it?"
He looked curiously from one to the other, but said nothing.
Alicia kissed Daisy again and passed by him
towards the door: he followed her, and, closing the door, said abruptly,
"What's a shame, Miss Derosne? What's the matter with Daisy?"
"You don't know? Oh, I've no right——"
"No; but tell me, please. Come in here," and he beckoned her into his own study.
"Is she in any trouble?" he asked again. "She won't tell me, you know, for fear of worrying me, so you must."
Somehow Alicia, unable to resist his request, stammered out the gist of the story; she blamed Dick as severely as he deserved, and shielded Daisy from all suspicion of haste in giving her affection; but the story stood out plain.
"And—and I was so afraid," she ended as she had begun, "that you would think that I had anything to do with it."