Was there a touch of pathos in the question? She could not have said. But she answered it swiftly, with all the confidence—and ignorance—of youth.
"Of course I do! How could it make a difference? Do you suppose—if it had been Bertie—I should have cared?"
"Bertie!" he said. "Bertie is a law-abiding citizen. And you—pardon me for saying so—are young."
"Oh, yes, I know," she admitted. "But I've got some sense all the same.
And—and—Nap, may I say something rather straight?"
The flicker of a smile shone and died in his eyes. "Don't mind me!" he said. "The role of an evangelist becomes you better than some."
"Don't!" said Dot, turning very red.
"I didn't," said Nap. "I'm only being brotherly. Hit as straight as you like."
"I was going to say," she said, taking him at his word, "that if a man is a good sort and does his duty, I don't believe one person in a million cares a rap about what his parents were. I don't indeed."
She spoke with great earnestness; it was quite obvious that she meant every word. It was Dot's straightforward way to speak from her heart.
"And I'm sure Lady Carfax doesn't either," she added.