"Oh!" Lilian against an intense volition began to blush.
"Didn't you know?"
"I didn't," said Lilian.
"But you've been having something to do with the books during my absence."
"I did a little at first," Lilian admitted. "Then Mr. Grig saw to them."
"Miss Merrislate tells me that you had quite a lot to do with them, and I see your handwriting in a number of places here."
"I've had nothing to do with them for about three weeks--I should think at least three weeks, and--and of course I expected the bill would be paid by this time."
"But you never asked?"
"No. It never occurred to me."
This statement was inaccurate. Lilian had often wondered whether Lord Mackworth had paid his bill, but, from some obscurely caused self-consciousness, she had not dared to make any inquiry. She felt herself to be somehow "mixed up" with Lord Mackworth, and had absurdly feared that if she mentioned the name there might appear on the face or in the voice of the detestable Milly some sinister innuendo.