"I said I wouldn't. She said it would get her into awful trouble."
"Well, she gets you into trouble."
"I know, but, Midget, she's all alone--her mother seems to be dead; her father was killed in the War. Fancy being shut up with Chipman and no one decent to speak to! You see, I don't blame her for trying to get her brooch back--she might do that----"
"It was rather clever," Hughie chuckled suddenly, "a sort of short cut, Pam."
"I daresay, but people oughtn't to use short cuts that hurt other people so awfully."
"She's selfish," said Hughie gravely, "fearfully selfish, she doesn't care when the others get hurt."
There was a long pause; then Pamela announced that she wasn't coming down to dinner; she told him that Mrs. Romilly had gone off to Crown Hill to see Miss Ashington.
"What did Mum say to you?" asked Hughie.
"Nothing. Not a word--she gave me the letter to read."
"What did you say?"