“You are surprised to see me,” said he, rather bashfully. “I hope you won’t refuse to come in because I am here? I will go away rather than that.”
Mabin hesitated. She was not very worldly-wise, but it seemed to her that there was something rather strange about his presence in the house where the rest of the Vicar’s family were not allowed to enter. And at the same moment she remembered Mrs. Dale’s apparent horror at the idea of the young fellow’s admiration for her.
Rudolph’s color deepened still more.
“Why are you always so rude to me, Mabin, or I suppose I ought to say—Miss Rose?” asked he quickly. “Doesn’t it seem rather unfair, when you come to think of it? We were great chums once, you know? Weren’t we?”
“When we were children, yes,” replied Mabin stiffly.
“And why not now?”
The blood rushed to the girl’s forehead.
“How can you ask?” she said, indignantly. “When I owe my lameness to you?”
Rudolph stared at her, as if uncertain whether he heard aright.
“To me?”