“Should I be wrong, Lady Bellamy, if I supposed that you have not come to Madeira solely for pleasure?”
“A wise person always tries to combine business and pleasure.”
“And in this case the business combined is in connection with Mr. Heigham’s engagement?”
“Exactly.”
“And supposing that I were to tell him this?”
“Had I not known that you would on no account tell Mr. Heigham, I should not have told you.”
“And how do you know that?”
“I will answer your question by another. Did you ever yet know a woman, who loved a man, willingly help him to the arms of a rival, unless indeed she was forced to it?” she added, with something like a sigh.
Mildred Carr’s snowy bosom heaved tumultuously, and the rose-leaf hue faded from her cheeks.
“You mean that I am in love with Arthur Heigham. On what do you base that belief?”