“No, it wasn’t! She saw the stammering-man killed, and ran away, you stupid creature!”
“How do you know?” he asked suspiciously.
“I was there, of course.”
“With her?”
“Yes, but—”
“You have been imposing on her!”
“I tell you it’s no such thing! I met her by the merest chance.”
“Tell me this!” commanded Piers. “Does she know that you are a girl?”
“No, but—”
“I knew it!” he declared. “And I distinctly heard the Major say that she had met you in Bath! I don’t know why you did it, but it is the most damnable trick in the world! And Lydia—deceiving me—encouraging your advances—oh, my eyes are open now!”