“Oh! I beg your pardon!” she exclaimed. “I did not know.”
“This is Lady Ruth Barrington,” Wingrave said; “my ward, Miss Juliet Lundy.”
“Your—ward?” Lady Ruth said, gazing at her intently.
Juliet nodded.
“Sir Wingrave has been very kind to me since I was a child,” she said softly. “He has let me live here with Mrs. Tresfarwin, and I am afraid I sometimes forget that it is not really my home. Am I in the way?” she asked, looking wistfully towards Wingrave.
“By no means!” he exclaimed. “Lady Ruth is just going. Will you see that she has some tea or something?”
Lady Ruth laughed quietly.
“I think,” she said, “that it is I who am in the way! I should love some tea, if there is time, but whatever happens, I must not miss that train.”