“Because she has told me all,” she replied coolly.
“A perjured little——”
“Hush!” she exclaimed, looking at me reprovingly. “Do not judge her too hastily. She only told me part; I inferred the rest. Her heart seemed as if it would break the night after you went fishing together, and, when I sought to know the cause of her grief, she would only say she had made you unhappy. Hers is a fond, true heart, and I only wish it were given away more worthily.”
“But what do you know of Paning’s sentiments?” I asked with some surprise. “Perhaps he may be very devoted to her.”
“I have very good reasons for knowing,” she said, with a peculiar smile; “but yonder are some of the negroes returning from church. I must go in and have dinner arranged before the carriage returns.”
She went into the house and left me wondering what she could mean. Can she love him, too, I thought, and is it because she herself has his heart that she knows Lulie has it not?
I began to grow desperate with the thought of my rival’s second conquest, when the sound of the carriage diverted my attention, and mother, Frank and Ned came into the house.
“Oh, you needn’t have dinner for us,” said Frank to Carlotta, as he drew a glass of ice-water for himself, and drank it. “We have already dined sumptuously.”
Mother nodded her head as Carlotta looked at her inquiringly. “Yes, my dear, we’ve had dinner. Mrs. Bemby invited us to her table, and of course we could not refuse.”