“You came here to abuse him behind his back, eh?” asked the lady with undisguised contempt.
Bassett winced, but kept his temper. “No, Miss Somerset; but you seem to think I ought to have come to you through Sir Charles. I would not enter your house if I did not feel sure I shall not meet him here.”
Miss Somerset looked rather puzzled. “Sir Charles does not come here every day, but he comes now and then, and he is always welcome.”
“You surprise me.”
“Thank you. Now some of my gentlemen friends think it is a wonder he does not come every minute.”
“You mistake me. What surprises me is that you are such good friends under the circumstances.”
“Circumstances! what circumstances?”
“Oh, you know. You are in his confidence, I presume?”—this rather satirically. So the lady answered, defiantly:
“Yes, I am; he knows I can hold my tongue, so he tells me things he tells nobody else.”
“Then, if you are in his confidence, you know he is about to be married.”