"Did you know? But of course you did."
"I knew that Clarence Isbister had been engaged to someone of your name, and that the engagement had been broken off after his accident."
"I broke it off," she said defiantly.
"So one heard."
"Everyone has heard that," said Miss Marchrose. "Everyone has heard that when he was told that he must be an invalid and helpless for the rest of his life he offered to release me from the engagement—and I said yes. And that he was very much upset about it, just at the time."
Julian stifled a fleeting recollection of the well-worn legend accompanying the story of Captain Isbister's betrayal.
"Of course, it is inevitable that his relations should have heard about it, I suppose," Miss Marchrose said.
Julian felt inclined to reply, "Clarence Isbister is an ass, and not worth worrying about," and then decided that that would not do, and awaited her next words in silence. He perceived that some unusual emotion had strung her to the pitch of excitement at which self-contained people become reckless, and emotional ones untruthful. Having already formed the conclusion that Miss Marchrose belonged to the former class, he listened with the greater interest.
Her next words gave him a clue to the vexation that vibrated in her tones.
"I was angry, I'm afraid, this morning, when Miss Easter actually began about it."