“Well, if it is,” he said gloomily, “we certainly don’t want to get mixed up in it. We don’t want to come into a new neighbourhood and get involved in a scandal—or even in gossiping about one. We must be careful not to say anything about this, Bella.”
She looked away from him thoughtfully. “I suppose so, though of course these people aren’t friends of ours; they’re hardly acquaintances.”
“No, but that’s all the more reason for our not appearing to be interested in their troubles. We’ll certainly be careful not to say anything about this, won’t we, Bella?”
“Oh, I suppose so,” she returned absently. “Since the people are really nothing to us, though, I don’t suppose it matters whether we say anything or not.”
“Oh, but it does!” he insisted, and then, something in her tone having caught his attention, he inquired: “You haven’t said anything to any one about it, have you, Bella?”
“What?”
“You haven’t repeated to any one what the child told you, have you?”
“Oh, no,” she said lightly. “Not to any one who would have any personal interest in it.”
“Oh, my!” William exclaimed, dismayed. “Who’d you tell?”
“Nobody that has the slightest interest in the Sullenders,” Bella replied, with cold dignity. “Nobody that cares the slightest thing about them.”