After awhile she comes back to him, her hands full of the late flowers that she nervously pulls from finger to finger in an unconscious fashion.
‘I can’t live here any longer,’ says she. ‘I should not have come here at all. She has quite shown me that.’
‘I have already told you that not one word Mrs. Prior said is worthy of another thought.’
He is alluding to Mrs. Prior’s abominable suggestions as to the real meaning of the girl’s presence in the Cottage.
‘Mr. Wyndham,’ says Ella, resting her earnest eyes on his, ‘perhaps I have never let you fully understand how I regard all you have done for me—how grateful I am to you—a mere waif, a nobody. But I am grateful, and, believe me, the one thing that has cut me to the very heart to-day is the thought that I—I’—with poignant meaning—‘should be the one to cause dissension between you and—and—and her.’
‘Her?’
‘Yes, yes; she told me.’
‘She? Who? Her?’ This involved sentence is taken no notice of.
‘It was your aunt who told me. But you can explain to her——’
‘To her! To whom? My aunt?’