Barbara started and colored.
“Oh, I beg your pardon,” she replied. “I hope you will forgive me. You are so transformed that I did not know you.”
“That is true, Lady Pelham,” was the slow reply; “I am as much altered as the circumstances of my life have changed. When you last saw me I was only a nurse. My parentage is humble, my mother is a very humble person indeed. She is an excellent woman and with plenty of character, but she belongs to the peasantry of our county.”
“What is your county?” asked Barbara.
“Cornwall.”
“Ah!”
“My mother has a little cottage in Cornwall by the sea coast. She pays ten pounds a year for it. She lives not very far from Falmouth. I remember the time when there was extreme difficulty in meeting that ten pounds rent. Then I went away and was trained as a nurse, and——”
“And you married Dr. Tarbot?”
“Yes, I married Dr. Tarbot. I am sorry he is out. He would doubtless have answered whatever question you intend to ask better than I could.”
“I wished to see him with regard to a curious rumor which is afloat, but I have something else to say to you.”