"'Oh, yes, you did—you disliked me very much then. Admit it.'
"'You are mistaken. In any case you are mistaken now.'
"It was quite unnecessary to modify by compliments the relation of good-fellowship which we had attained the evening before, and which English customs so willingly permit. She had the wisdom not to heed my remark, and following her own thoughts, she concluded:
"'I have worked a great deal—'
"I then asked her, not indiscreetly—
"'You left very suddenly eight or nine years ago. And you went at once to Miss Pearson?'
"'No, not at once. Three years later.'
"She looked at me, then lowered her head over the custard that had been served to her. But instead of taking the vanilla cream with her spoon, she mechanically put a piece of bread in her mouth. I watched her actions. Again I saw those evidences of distress which had struck me the evening before, and although I cannot explain it, I was convinced, with absolute certainty, that during those three years she had not always had enough to eat.
"She had been obliged to travel the same road as I.
"'We owe no more debts over there,' she answered with a little air of victory. 'So I can go back if I choose.'