“One of your oldest friends? That is what he called himself. But the servant told me he was a relative of yours, who came to see you nearly every day.”
“I am not answerable for the creations of a housemaid’s fancy. Certainly neither Mr. Cooke nor I ever told her he was a relative of mine.”
“But he comes to see you nearly every day?”
“Not so often as that; but he comes very frequently. Why should he not? I am at liberty to choose my own friends, and he is one of the best I have.”
“Then why did you not introduce him to me just now when you came out of your room and found us both there?”
“I was too much taken by surprise——”
“And terror—that is what your face showed.”
“I thought you had had some quarrel, you looked so angry; I did not know what to think; and the next minute Mr. Cooke was gone.”
“It was the first time he had heard you were married, was it not?”
Annie hesitated for one moment; then she said: