He looked at her blankly.
“Turned away! Why, what for? Do you mean to say that you have left for good?”
She nodded, and commenced to dry her eyes with a little lace handkerchief.
“Yes—your mother—Lady Deringham has been very horrid—as though the silly papers were of any use to me or any one else in the world! I have not copied them. I am not deceitful! It is all an excuse to get rid of me because of—of you.”
She looked up at him and suddenly dropped her eyes. Wolfenden began to see some glimmerings of light. He was still, however, bewildered.
“Look here,” he said kindly, “why you are here I cannot for the life of me imagine, but you had better just tell me all about it.”
She rose up suddenly and caught her gloves from the table.
“I think I will go away,” she said. “I was very stupid to come; please forget it and—— Goodbye.”
He caught her by the wrist as she passed.
“Nonsense,” he exclaimed, “you mustn’t go like this.”