However much Mavis was occasionally moved to pity his physical misfortune, the recollection of her griefs was more than enough to harden her heart.
"Very, very strange that I should have run against you here," he went on.
"Why?"
"I was at home when your old schoolmistress's letter came about you. I remember she dragged in Ruskin."
"Poor Miss Mee!"
"I was always interested in you, and when I was in the South of France, I was always asking my people to do their best for you."
Mavis's eyes grew hard as she asked:
"You've kept your promise to me?"
"That I shouldn't tell my people I'd met you?"
"I made it because—-"