"I wonder you did not leave him altogether," said Sir Guy indignantly.
"He was my father after all," she replied simply. "No one would stay by him except me, and I could not let him die alone, like a dog."
Sir Guy shifted uneasily in his seat, finding a difficulty in making an answer.
"No, I suppose you couldn't," he answered reluctantly; "blood's thicker than water, but still--you are a good woman, Alizon."
Lady Errington smiled faintly and shook her head.
"Don't put me on a pedestal," she said, a trifle bitterly, "or you will find your goddess has feet of clay after all. Well, about Mrs. Veilsturm. I need not tell you all I heard about her, but only this. That my father knew her--intimately--and that her life before she set up for a woman of fashion in England, was not all that could be desired."
"Where did he meet her?" demanded Sir Guy abruptly.
"In South America. She is a Creole, you know, and when my father knew her she was not married to Captain Veilsturm. She may have lived decently since she became wife and widow, for all I know, but when she was in South America----"
Lady Errington broke off abruptly, and rose quickly to her feet.
"How dare she call on me--how dare she?"