He replied for her.
"I wish to speak to you alone," he said. "Take Clair with you, Charlotte, and go and gather some flowers."
"You can speak before them," said Mrs. Grantham; "they will be very quiet."
"Yes, mamma," said Clair, "we will be very quiet."
"What I have to say is for your ears alone," he said, and he motioned again to the door. The masterfulness of the order did not escape Mrs. Grantham. She moved her chair to the window, which looked out upon the lawn, and from which she could also see the bridge.
"Go with Charlotte, my dear," she said to Clair, "but keep on the lawn, so that I can see you."
"Yes, mamma."
"My dear Mrs. Grantham," commenced Mr. Fox-Cordery, in a bland voice of false pity, "I have deplorable news to convey to you. A short time since, when I had the honor of making a proposal to you----"
The look she gave him stopped him. "If you are about to renew that proposal, Mr. Fox-Cordery, I must ask you to go no further. I gave you my answer then; it would be my answer now."
"I am unfortunate in my choice of words," he said, losing the guard he had kept upon himself during her visit. "I did not wish to shock you too suddenly by disclosing abruptly what it is my duty, as your man of business, to disclose."