“What does this all mean, Katharine?” he enquired, severely. “Your mother and I desire some explanation.”
“There’s nothing to explain,” answered the young girl. “Uncle Robert wanted to see me, and Doctor Routh told me so, and was kind enough to send me up in his carriage. I was coming away when I met you. There’s nothing to explain.”
Alexander Junior very nearly lost his temper. He could not recollect having done so since he had refused to accept John Ralston as his son-in-law, nearly eighteen months ago. But his steely grey eyes began to gleam now, and his clear, pale skin grew paler. It was evident that his mind was working rapidly in a direction which Katharine could not understand.
“I wish to know what he said to you,” he replied.
“Why do you want to know?” asked Katharine, unwisely, for she herself was agitated.
“I have a right to know,” answered her father, peremptorily.
It was unlike him to go to such lengths of insistence at once, and even Mrs. Lauderdale was surprised, and glanced at him somewhat timidly.
“Shall we walk on?” she suggested. “I’m cold—there’s a chilly wind from the corner.”
They began to move, Alexander Junior walking between them, with Katharine on his left. She did not reply to his last speech at once, and his anger rose.
“When I speak to you, Katharine, I expect to be answered,” he said.