When she was alone with the other lady, Rhoda seized the opportunity to say:
“I’m sorry I cried out as I did, but——”
She could not go on, and after a pause, Lady Sarah finished her sentence for her.
“The sight of a scar or wound distresses you. I understand. Some people are very sensitive to anything like that. But it’s not really painful now, you know. At the moment it happened I thought it must be, for it looked so dreadful. But even then I think perhaps I suffered more at the sight of the wound than Jack did himself.”
“Yes.”
Lady Sarah turned quickly to her husband, who was now in sight.
“Bertie,” she said, “Tell Miss Pembury how Jack cut his hand.”
Rhoda rose quickly from her chair.
“Oh, no,” she said hastily, “I don’t want to hear any more, really.”
But Lady Sarah insisted.