"Oh, Sara!"
"You must put a stop to all this at once. How can you think of marrying him, Hetty Glynn? Send him—"
"I do not intend to marry him," said the girl, suddenly calm and dignified.
"I am to draw but one conclusion, I suppose," said the other, regarding the girl intently.
"What do you mean?"
"Is it necessary to ask that question?"
The puzzled expression remained in the girl's eyes for a time, and then slowly gave way to one of absolute horror.
"How dare you suggest such a thing?" she cried, turning pale, then crimson. "How dare you?"
Sara laughed shortly. "Isn't the inference a natural one? You are forgetting yourself."
"I understand," said the girl, through pallid lips. Her eyes were dark with pain and misery. "You think I am altogether bad." She drooped perceptibly.