"No; I am his ward. Mr. Edermont has never been married."
Mrs. Tice looked thoroughly frightened.
"You say Mr. Edermont had a conversation with Mr. Allen?"
"Yes: a conversation and a quarrel."
"Oh, great heavens! if he should have learnt the truth!" muttered the old lady.
"If who should have learnt the truth?" demanded Dora.
Mrs. Tice closed the book with a snap, and put it in the cupboard, shaking her head ominously. She kept her eyes turned away persistently from the face of the young girl. Whatever discovery she had made from displaying the photograph, it was evident that she did not intend to communicate it to her companion.
"How did you come possessed of Mr. Edermont's photograph, when you said you did not know him?" asked Dora suddenly.
"I did not know him until--five minutes ago. You had better ask me no more questions, Miss Carew."
"But can you not tell me, from your knowledge of Allen's parents, why Mr. Edermont has quarrelled with him?"