"My dear child, why?" Rylton's tone is shocked. The very truth in her declaration makes it the more shocking. And how does she know? His mother has been sweetness itself to her before the curtain.
"Never mind, I know," says Tita. "I feel things. They come to me. I don't blame her. I'm sure I'm often horrid. I know that, when I look at other people. When I look at——"
She pauses.
"Look at whom?"
"At your cousin."
"My cousin!"
"Yes! You love her, don't you?"
"Love her!" He has turned suddenly as pale as death. "What do you mean?" asks he in a low voice.
"I love her, any way," says Tita. "I think Miss Knollys is the nicest person in all the world."
"Oh, Margaret?" says he. He says it involuntarily. The relief is so great that it compels him to give himself away.