"Forbid his visits!" repeated Clare, startled, crushed, and blushing crimson; "then you must tell him so yourself."
"Why, madam?"
"He is an old friend of my family, and—and——"
"You, and he too, never said a word of this before!"
"I thought you knew it," faltered Clare, who found that she had made a sad mistake.
"Old friend—he is about five-and-twenty only. What brought him here to-day?"
"To give us these tickets for the garrison ball."
"Ball—you know I never go to balls."
"But may I?"
"No—you may not!"