As the words were uttered, it seemed to Clodagh that a faint cold wind blew from some unseen quarter, chilling the summer warmth—chilling her own happiness.
"Why—why hard on me?" she asked.
"Dear child!" Lady Frances's tone was deep and kind. "Do you remember the night in town when you asked me to take you to the Tamperleigh's party?"
"Yes. I remember."
"You remember why I refused?"
"Yes, I remember."
"But you did not know my full reason for refusing. I had met Walter a day or two before. We had discussed you."
"And what had Sir Walter Gore to say of me?"
"He said—oh, dear child, don't ask me to be too literal."
"But I do."