The two girls turned together. Hoshiko was about to chastise the maid. But she was terrified at the pallor of her face. Nevertheless she insisted, with a certain pathetic dignity:—
"I said—yes!"
"I say no!" stubbornly cried the maid. "None! none!"
Arisuga deprecatingly waved his hand, and courteously believed what they disagreed about.
"What does it matter?" he said.
But the maid whispered tragically to her mistress:—
"See what you have done!"
"What?" asked Hoshiko.
The maid's whisper was sinister.
"Do you wish him to think that you have been any one's? Every one's? That is why he asked."