'Oh well, that isn't a thing to talk about. And then I don't know anything for certain. It's only what people say you know.'
'What do people say?' he asked, impatiently, though without much sign of active interest. It was rather as if her manner annoyed him, than the subject of which she spoke.
'I don't see that it can interest you.'
'No, I don't see that it can. Still, you may as well explain.'
Jessie sipped her wine.
'It's only that they say she's engaged.'
'To whom?'
'A gentleman in London—somebody in the family where she was teaching.'
'How do you know that?' he asked, with the same blending of indifference and annoyed persistency.
'Why, it's only a guess, after all. One day Barbara and I went to see her, and just as we got to the door, out comes a gentleman we'd never seen before. Of course, we wondered who he was. The next day mother and I were in the station, buying a newspaper, and there was the same gentleman, just going to start by the London train. Mother remembered she'd seen him walking with Mrs. Baxendale in St. Luke's, and then we found he'd been staying with the Baxendales all through Emily's illness.'