Remembering what I had said to him, I explained to her that in speaking as I had done I referred entirely to Agatha.
"It is so utterly unexpected," she said, "that you must pardon my strange reception of your intelligence."
She sat quite silent for some minutes, then continued:
"It seems so strange for you to fall in love with Agatha. The dearest wish of Sir Barnard's heart was to have her for a daughter-in-law."
A fierce spasm of jealousy almost robbed me of my breath.
"Did she—did she—"
Then I could get no further.
"No, Agatha did not like Miles, if that is what you mean?"
"Did Miles love her?"
"I cannot tell—there was something very mysterious about him. He looked to me like one who had a secret on his mind. I have often wondered what it could be. He was not a happy man of late years."