“Ellie and young Davenant?”
“Young Davenant; or the others....”
“Or the others. But what business was it of ours?”
“Ah, that’s just what I think!” she cried, springing up with an explosion of relief. Lansing stood up also, but there was no answering light in his face.
“We’re outside of all that; we’ve nothing to do with it, have we?” he pursued.
“Nothing whatever.”
“Then what on earth is the meaning of Ellie’s gratitude? Gratitude for what we’ve done about some letters—and about Vanderlyn?”
“Oh, not you,” Susy cried, involuntarily.
“Not I? Then you?” He came close and took her by the wrist. “Answer me. Have you been mixed up in some dirty business of Ellie’s?”
There was a pause. She found it impossible to speak, with that burning grasp on the wrist where the bangle had been. At length he let her go and moved away. “Answer,” he repeated.