"What do you mean, my pet?"
Sir Denis was quite flurried at Nelly's suddenly coming out of her brooding silence.
"I mean Mary and Robin," she answered. "It has been borne in on me that that is why Robin was not in love with me. Poor Robin! He would have gone through it heroically. Never say again, papa, that he is not a true Drummond. And I should never have known if he could have helped it that I wasn't the only woman for him."
"You don't mean to say, Nell, that Robin is in love with Miss Gray?"
"That is it, papa."
The General turned very red. For a second his impulse was towards wrath; then he checked himself.
"To be sure, as you didn't want him, Nell, it would be the height of unreasonableness to expect poor Robin to be miserable for your sake. And Miss Gray is a fine creature—a fine, handsome, clever creature. Still, there is a great difference in their positions. It will be a blow to the Dowager."
"Mrs. Ilbert would not have minded."
"God bless my soul! You don't mean to say that Miss Gray could have had Ilbert?"
"She has refused him, but I don't think he has given up hope."