"I suppose she doesn't realize——"
"She will soon enough——"
"She ought to have broken off her engagement long ago."
"Isn't it awful?—Poor thing."
Louisa, left alone with her father, could allow her nerves to ease their fearful tension. She had no need to hide from him the painful quiver of her lips, or the anxious frown across her brow.
"Do you know," she asked, "anything about this awful business, father?"
"There's a lot of gossip," he replied: his voice was not only gruff but hoarse, which showed that he was strangely moved.
"But," she insisted, "some truth in the gossip?"
"They say Philip de Mountford has been murdered."
"Who says so?"