"When I have made my communication, you will at least allow secrecy to have been necessary."
"Some objects may require it!" said Wardour, in a tone itself an insult.
"Mr. Wardour," returned Mary, "I am here for your sake, not my own. May I beg you will not render a painful duty yet more difficult?"
"May I beg, then, that you will be as brief as possible? I am more than doubtful whether what you have to say will seem to me of so much consequence as you suppose."
"I shall be very glad to find it so."
"I can not give you more than ten minutes." Mary looked at her watch.
"You have lately become acquainted with Miss Yolland, I am told," she began.
"Whew!" whistled Godfrey, yet hardly as if he were surprised.
"I have been compelled to know a good deal of that lady."
"As lady's-maid in her family, I believe."