“Your brother knows the bush,” returned Millicent, hiding her fears.
Bella did not respond to this. She had decided that Millicent must not be allowed to marry Gladwyne, but she could not bring herself to denounce the man. If that must be done, somebody else would have to undertake the task. At the same time, she felt it incumbent on her to give the girl some warning, or at least to find out how far her confidence in her lover went, in order to determine how advice could best be offered.
“I wonder if you feel quite sure you will be happy with Clarence?” she ventured.
“You have provoked the retort—were you convinced that you would be happy with Arthur Carew, when you made up your mind to marry him so suddenly?”
Bella’s smile expressed forbearance. It was getting dark, but she could see the hot flush in her companion’s cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes. Neither was encouraging, but Bella was not easily, daunted, and she felt that her persistence was really meritorious, considering that until lately Millicent had never been cordial to her.
“Perhaps I’d better answer,” she said sweetly. “I was sure of Arthur, and that means a good deal more than that I knew he was in love with me—I don’t suppose you heard that he’d proposed to me once before?”
“Why didn’t you take him then?” Millicent asked coldly. “Remember you have justified my being personal.”
Bella grew rather hot—when Carew had made his first offer she had been in eager pursuit of Gladwyne—but she sternly suppressed a desire to retaliate.
“I don’t think we need go into that,” she replied. “As I said, I was sure of Arthur—I knew his character, knew he was better than I am, that he could be depended on. He’s the kind of man one is safe with; I felt that the more I saw of him, the more I could trust him. Perhaps the feeling’s a safer guide than passion—it stands longer wear—and now I’m getting to like him better every day.”
Her voice dropped to a tender note and Millicent felt a little astonished, and ashamed of her harshness. This was a new Bella, one in whose existence she could hardly have believed.