Rhoda raised her head and smiled.
“That compliment,” she said, “pleases me less than the one you have uttered without intending it.”
“You must explain.”
“You said that by making Miss Barfoot see she was wrong you could alter her mind towards me. The world’s opinion would hardly support you in that, even in the case of men.”
Everard laughed.
“Now this is better. Now we are talking in the old way. Surely you know that the world’s opinion has no validity for me.”
She kept silence.
“But, after all, is Mary wrong? I’m not afraid to ask the question now that your face has cleared a little. How angry you were with me! But surely I didn’t deserve it. You would have been much more forbearing if you had known what delight I felt when I saw you sitting over there. It is nearly a month since we met, and I couldn’t keep away any longer.”
Rhoda swept the distance with indifferent eyes.
“Mary was fond of this girl?” he inquired, watching her.