"Well! you overheard our conversation, I suppose?"
"Not much," she answered eagerly, almost relieved by being thus helped out in her forced confession. "Only a sentence or two."
"What were they?" he asked.
"Why, you had just been saying something, and Dr. Nicholls said, 'If he has got aneurism of the aorta his days are numbered.'"
"Well. Anything more?"
"Yes; you said, 'I hope to God I may be mistaken; but there is a pretty clear indication of symptoms, in my opinion.'"
"How do you know we were speaking of Osborne Hamley?" he asked; perhaps in hopes of throwing her off the scent. But as soon as she perceived that he was descending to her level of subterfuge, she took courage, and said in quite a different tone to the cowed one which she had been using:
"Oh! I know. I heard his name mentioned by you both before I began to listen."
"Then you own you did listen?"
"Yes," said she, hesitating a little now.