“But you hadn't mentioned her.”
There was the briefest of pauses; then with a half-quizzical dejection, there came the remark:
“You seem to forget. I told you that I stayed here this summer for reasons too numerous, and one too heart-breaking, to mention. She was the one.”
“You mean—”
“Yes. The usual thing. She turned me down. Oh, I haven't asked her yet as many times as I did you, but—”
“Hugh!”
Hugh tossed her a grim smile and went on imperturbably.
“I'm older now, of course, and know more, perhaps. Besides, the finality of her remarks was not to be mistaken.”
Billy, in spite of her sympathy for Calderwell, was conscious of a throb of relief that at least one stumbling-block was removed from Arkwright's possible pathway to Alice's heart.
“Did she give any special reason?” hazarded Billy, a shade too anxiously.