“How dare you!” she cried quite aloud.
“Edie! Can you not trust me?” he said reproachfully. “It was for your sake I spoke. People may be coming up or going down. Let’s go back to Mr Brettison’s door.”
“No,” she said hoarsely; “I will stay here.”
“But there is no need,” he said gently. “I know what you feel in your anxiety about Myra; but really there is no need. Come.”
He tried to take her hand again, but she recoiled from him so suddenly that her little hood fell back, and, dim though the staircase landing was, he could see the bright little face before him convulsed with anger, and that her eyes literally flashed.
“Edie!” he whispered, “how can you be so foolish! I tell you I will answer for Myra’s safety there with my life if you like.”
“Myra!” she said in an angry whisper; “do you think I was considering her? I—oh, it is too much. How could I be so mad and stupid as to—as to—come!”
Guest gazed at her wonderingly. At first he merely attributed her actions to her anxiety on her cousin’s behalf, but her words contradicted that; and, utterly astounded, he stammered out:
“Edie—speak to me—have I offended you? What have I done?”
“Oh, nothing. It is I who have been foolish,” she said hysterically. “Girls are so silly sometimes.”