Mr. Langhope turned away his head. "You're a sentimentalist!" he flung scornfully back.
"Oh, call me any bad names you please!"
"I won't send for that woman!"
"No." She fastened her furs slowly, with the gentle deliberate movements that no emotion ever hastened or disturbed.
"Why do you say no?" he challenged her.
"To make you contradict me, perhaps," she ventured, after looking at him again.
"Ah——" He shifted his position, one elbow supporting his bowed head, his eyes fixed on the ground. Presently he brought out: "Could one ask her to come—and see the child—and go away again—for good?"
"To break the compact at your pleasure, and enter into it again for the same reason?"
"No—no—I see." He paused, and then looked up at her suddenly. "But what if Amherst won't have her back himself?"
"Shall I ask him?"