“What have I done?” she said in a soft, low, half-passionate tone.
“Done! What do you mean?”
“Why do you take pleasure in laughing at me and mocking me?”
“Oh, nonsense!” he cried. “I was only speaking lightly.”
“Why should you speak lightly to me?” she said. “We have lived in the same house now for over a year, and, instead of being neighbours and friends, there always seems to be a great gap between us.”
“Why, what a sentimental view you take of things,” he said. “We shake hands when we meet. We smile at one another, and nod and chat.”
“Yes,” she said sadly, “we shake hands, we smile at each other, we nod and chat, but—”
She stopped and seemed to try and command herself; and, to his great relief, she spoke lightly as she said:
“I shall see you to-night, of course?”
“No; I thought you were going to a party.”