“Longer than we have, I suspect,” with provoking calmness.
Paddy puckered her forehead into a frown, and condescended to look at him.
“Of course, I don’t know whether it is announced or not yet, and I’m sure I don’t care, but I heard from a mutual friend of yours and hers that it was settled when you were in India over a year ago.”
“Might I ask you the mutual friend’s name?”
“It was Captain O’Connor. He met you both in Calcutta. But really, except that I like Miss Carew very much, this is a most uninteresting topic.”
“On the contrary, considering we have never been engaged at all, and it is very unlikely that we ever shall be, I find it extremely interesting.”
“Never been engaged at all!” gasped Paddy.
“Never to my knowledge,” with the same provoking calmness.
“Impossible! Captain O’Connor told me he had congratulated you both, and that he heard it from Miss Carew herself.”
A sudden light broke on Lawrence. “Did he tell you it happened a year last Christmas?” he asked.