"I've not been conscious of it."
"You'll recognise it immediately. I am about to transgress your privacy with a question—two, in fact. Will you tell me, please, in confidence, why you refused my cousin, Peter Kenny, when he asked you to marry him?"
Colouring, she met his eyes honestly.
"Because—why, it was so utterly absurd! He's only a boy. Besides, I don't care for him—that way."
"You care for some one else—'that way'?"
"Yes," said the girl softly, averting her face.
"Is it—Mr. Bayard Shaynon?"
"No," she replied after a perceptible pause.
"But you have promised to marry him?"
"I once made him that promise—yes."