"Mamma," she said, "I did not know that he had spoken to you in that way."
"In what way, Rachel?" Mrs. Ray's voice was not quite pleasant. Now that Mrs. Prime was gone, she would have been glad to have had the dangerous subject abandoned for a while.
"That he had asked you to let him come here, and that he had said that about me."
"He did then,—while you were away at Mrs. Sturt's."
"And what answer did you give him?"
"I didn't give him any answer. You came back, and I'm sure I was very glad that you did, for I shouldn't have known what to say to him."
"But what was it that he did say, mamma?—that is, if you don't think it wrong to tell me."
"I hardly know; but I don't suppose it can be wrong, for no young man could have spoken nicer; and it made me happy to hear him,—so it did, for the moment."
"Oh, mamma, do tell me!" and Rachel kneeled down before her.
"Well;—he said you were the nicest girl he had ever seen."