Gabrielle made a gesture of impatience. "Well, why shouldn't we? It was the nightingale. Why shouldn't we listen to a nightingale? I'd never heard one."
"I followed you into the garden."
"That was a mean thing to do!"
"Perhaps it was. No … I'd a right to do it. I saw everything that happened."
"When we kissed each other?"
Mrs. Payne nodded. Gabrielle looked at her challengingly. "It was the first time," she said. There was a pause and then she burst out passionately. "I love him … we love each other. You can't stop us!"
"It's got to be stopped," said Mrs. Payne.
Gabrielle turned away and perched herself on the end of the bed. She appeared to be thinking, and when next she spoke it was almost dreamily.
"It was the first time. We didn't know before to-night."
There was nothing dreamy about Mrs. Payne's reply. She believed that
Gabrielle was acting a part, and had no patience with her.