"No," she replied. "My father has forbidden both my mother and me to receive any letters from him."
"Surely that is a foolish command on his part," I said. "He cannot stop Hugh from writing, neither can he forbid the postman from bringing letters to your house."
"No," she said, with a laugh, "but my father has the key to the letter bag, and he can decide as to what letters reach us." She spoke, as I thought, flippantly, and as one who did not care.
Perhaps it was the tone of her voice and the look in her eyes which caused me to say what I did.
"Have I to congratulate you, Miss Lethbridge?"
"Congratulate me on what?" she asked.
"On your engagement," I said.
"Engagement! To whom?"
"To Mr. Barcroft?"
She laughed as though I had perpetrated a joke.