"What! Do you not believe me?" asks she, her eyes blazing.
"I believe you? Yes," returns her quickly. "But there is this——"
"There is this, too," interrupting him passionately. "You accuse me of deception most wrongfully, and I—I accuse you of the worst thing of all, of listening behind my back—of listening deliberately to what was never meant for you to hear."
"I did not listen," says Rylton, who is now very white. "It so chanced that I stood near the arbour; but I heard only one word, and it was about some secret. I came away then. I did not stay."
Tita turns to him with a vehemence that arrests him.
"Who brought you to the arbour?" asks she.
"Brought me?"
"Yes. Who brought you?"
"What do you mean?" asks Rylton, calmly enough, but with a change of colour.
"Ah! you will not betray her, but I know. It was Mrs. Bethune. Now"—she goes nearer to him, her pretty, childish face transformed by grief and anger—"now, confess, it was!" She draws back again. "No," says she, sighing disconsolately. "No, of course you would not tell. But I," looking back at him reproachfully, "I—told _you—_things."