“But hang it, Horry, why should he?”
“Well, I—well, I w-wasn’t very nice to him b-before he went away, and he wanted me to g-go with him and I wouldn’t, and d-don’t you see, P-Pel, it looks as if I p-planned it all, and hadn’t really given up Lethbridge at all? And I l-left that horrid b-ball early, to make it worse!”
“It don’t look well, certainly,” admitted the Viscount. “Have you quarrelled with Rule?”
“No. N-not quarrelled. Only—No.”
“You’d best tell me, and be done with it,” said his lordship severely. “I suppose you’ve been up to your tricks again. I warned you he wouldn’t stand for ’em.”
“It isn’t that at all!” flamed Horatia. “Only I f-found out that he had planned the R-Ranelagh affair with that odious Lady M-Massey.”
The Viscount stared at her. “You’re raving!” he said calmly.
“I’m not. She was there, and she knew!”
“Who told you he planned it with her?”
“W-well, no one precisely, but Lethbridge thought so, and of course I realized—”