Fleda scarcely heard his words; something new had suddenly come into her mind. "When you went to Waterbath after seeing me," she asked, "did you tell her all about that?"
Owen looked conscious. "All about it?"
"That you had had a long talk with me, without seeing your mother at all?"
"Oh yes, I told her exactly, and that you had been most awfully kind, and that I had placed the whole thing in your hands."
Fleda was silent a moment. "Perhaps that displeased her," she at last suggested.
"It displeased her fearfully," said Owen, looking very queer.
"Fearfully?" broke from the girl. Somehow, at the word, she was startled.
"She wanted to know what right you had to meddle. She said you were not honest."
"Oh!" Fleda cried, with a long wail. Then she controlled herself. "I see."
"She abused you, and I defended you. She denounced you—"