Meanwhile those she had been watching were now in a sequestered walk.
'You have suffered, Annabelle,' said Fotheringhame, in an agitated voice, as he turned and confronted her; 'I can read it in your face.'
'If I have suffered, sir, it has been through you.'
'Oh, say not so,' he exclaimed in a prayerful way.
'Sir—your manner—your mode of conduct, bewilder me!' she exclaimed, as she was about to sweep away, when he strove to take her hand, but she withdrew, it sharply and defiantly.
'Annabelle!' he said reproachfully.
'How dare you—how can you be so persistently cruel?' she cried haughtily, while cresting up her head. There were no tears in her eyes or voice now.
'Cruel, Annabelle?'
There was the old charm in his voice, and she could not resist it.
'Why was that letter—my last to you—returned to me unopened?'