“And I mean it. Never mind consequences; tell me the truth.”
“Like a man, eh? and get hated.”
“Men are well worth imitating, in some things. Tell me the truth, pleasant or not, and I shall always respect you.”
“Bother respect. I am like the rest of us; I want to be loved a little bit. But there—I'm in for it. I have said too much, or too little. I know that. Well, Zoe, the long and the short is—you have a rival.”
Zoe turned rather pale, but was not so much shaken as Fanny expected.
She received the blow in silence. But after a while she said, with some firmness, “Mademoiselle Klosking?”
“Oh, you are not quite blind, then.”
“And pray which does he prefer?” asked Zoe, a little proudly.
“It is plain he likes you the best. But why does he fear her so? This is where you seem all in the dark. He flew out of the opera, lest she should see him.”
“Oh! Absurd!”