‘She is staying with us at present.’
‘Is she? I think I should like to see her.’
‘If Laura were to see you——’
‘Oh, she wouldn’t see me. She is not dressed in black, is she?’
‘No, in white.’
‘Good girl! I suppose mother is in black?’
‘Surely, Dick.’
‘It’s too bad, you know.’
‘You weren’t exactly—engaged to Laura, were you, Dick?’ A bold question from a father, but the circumstances were unusual. Apologetically, ‘I never rightly knew.’
‘No!’ Dick has flung back his head again. Confidentially, ‘Father, I sometimes thought of it, but it rather scared me! I expect that is about how it was with her, too.’