"Now, dear," said Pearl, "it's dark, I can hardly see your face, so tell me what is the matter."
Amy rose abruptly and switched on the electric light.
"As to that," she said with a nervous laugh, "pray don't think I am ashamed of being seen. I've done nothing wrong, you know."
"Well, at any rate there's a certain comfort in that affirmation," replied Pearl drily.
"Oh, now you are laughing at me. Never mind, I am accustomed to it." Then, after a pause, "Pearl, he's come back."
"Who's come back?"
"Don't tease. You know whom I mean--Sir Ralph Nicholson, of course."
"Oh, then it was a matter of course that he should come back? Well, continue your confession. He has been here, I suppose?"
"Yes. He told me he returned on purpose to see me, you know. Pearl, he asked me again to be his wife! He was so kind and nice, but he seemed to be so awfully sure that I was going to accept him that I really couldn't help it, but--but--I believe he thinks that I refused him."
"And now you are sorry, I suppose, and have been crying about it. Oh! Amy, Amy! You foolish, foolish girl! Why, you love that man with all your heart. You have never ceased to think of him since he left. And now, when just like in a novel, he turns up again and gives you another chance, you go and throw it away like this. I have no patience with you, Amy, and I don't pity you a bit. You surely ought to understand that Ralph Nicholson is a man in a thousand. A delightful man, a clever man, and, from a worldly point of view, an excellent match. And pray, who are you, Miss, that you should treat him like this? If you didn't care for him it would be another question, but you told me yourself you have never been happy since you said 'no' before. And now--oh! really, I can't tell you what I think, I am so annoyed."