“Fifty-six.”
“And your name?”
“Is it necessary to catechize so closely, Doctor May?”
“Well, the last question was superfluous, certainly, for I knew you directly I saw you.”
“Knew me?” she repeated, the color mounting once more into her face, and her lips trembling. “Oh! surely not!”
“Why should you mind? As a professional man, I am nothing if I am not discreet. What is more, I respect and admire a lady of position who casts aside conventionalities, and dares, for once, to listen to her heart.”
“But the world would be very cruel if it knew all.”
“Perhaps. I really don’t know anything about your world. But need it know all? You can surely remain, Miss Mordaunt, for the present.”
“If you have recognized me, another might.”
“Then take care ‘another’ doesn’t see you. With ordinary precaution, you need not excite attention. I presume that you have been in the habit of taking Mary’s place from the beginning?”