CHAPTER XII.
A TERRIBLE DESTINY.
Valentine had taken counsel with himself, and had resolved to say nothing to his brother on the question of Sacha’s intimacy with Lady Wentworth.
“After all, if Sacha does not see the matter with our eyes all the speaking in the world will not alter things,” he said to himself. “It is, of course, his own business to go where he likes and do what he wants to do, and if he chooses to be a friend of Lady Wentworth’s, I have no right to object. I should not give the business a second thought but for Grace.”
Grace, however, quickly grasped the situation.
On her daily visits up to Sunstead, she had soon learned of Sacha’s intimacy with Christina, and though at first she had felt a sharp sensation of hurt that her younger brother should permit this, remembering how she had fared at Christina’s hands, she very swiftly found an excuse.
“Sacha is painting Lady Wentworth’s portrait,” she told Valentine. “I am not surprised, she is a beautiful creature, and should make a beautiful picture.”
Val assented to this quietly.
“I suppose Mark approves of this?” he said, half casually.
Grace colored.
It was not easy for her even yet to have to realize that her cousin was on openly declared ill terms with them.