On the threshold she paused. “Mother, I was odious to you that night at Rio.”
Kate started up with an impulsive gesture. “Oh, my darling, what does that matter? It was all forgotten long ago.”
“I haven’t forgotten it. I’m more and more ashamed of what I said. But I was dreadfully unhappy....”
“I know, dear, I know.”
The girl still stood by the door, clutching the knob in an unconscious hand. “I wanted to tell you that now I’m cured—quite cured.” Her smile was heart-breaking. “I didn’t follow your advice; I wrote to him. I told him—I pretended—that you were going to accept my plan of giving you back the money, and that I should have only a moderate allowance, so that he needn’t feel any inequality ... any sense of obligation....”
Kate listened with lowered head. “Perhaps you were right to write to him.”
“Yes, I was right,” Anne answered with a faint touch of self-derision. “For now I know. It was not the money; he has told me so. I’ve had a letter.”
“Ah—”
“I’m dismissed,” said the girl with an abrupt laugh.
“What do you mean, dear, when you say I was right?”