"Come and sit down, Hester," he said, "and don't look so frightened."
She obeyed him at once.
"I am frightened," she said, "because I feel that I ought not to have come here, and yet I thought that you ought to know at once what has happened. Sir Leslie Borrowdean has been coming to see mother. Last night he took her out to dinner. She came home—late—she was not quite herself. This morning she was frightened and hysterical. She said—that she had been talking."
"To Sir Leslie Borrowdean?"
"Yes."
Mannering showed no signs of dismay. He took the girl's thin white hand in his, and held it almost affectionately.
"I am very glad to know this at once, dear," he said, "and you did what was right and kind when you came to see me. But Sir Leslie Borrowdean has no reason to make himself my enemy. On the contrary, just now he seems particularly anxious to cultivate my friendship."
"Then why," the girl asked, "has he gone out of his way to—to—"
Mannering stopped her.
"He had a motive, of course. Borrowdean is one of those men who do nothing without a motive. I believe that I can even guess what it is. Don't let this thing distress you too much, Hester. I do not think that we have anything to worry about."