“Nothing is impossible to a determined woman.”
“You can neither wring, surprise, nor bribe this secret from the two persons who hold it. I beg of you to let it rest,” said Treherne earnestly.
“I have a clue, and I shall follow it; for I am convinced that something is wrong, and you are—”
“Dear Mrs. Snowdon, are you so charmed with the birds that you forget your fellow-beings, or so charmed with one fellow-being that you forget the birds?”
As the sudden question startled both, Rose Talbot came along the terrace, with hands full of holly and a face full of merry mischief, adding as she vanished, “I shall tell Tavie that feeding the peacocks is such congenial amusement for lovers, she and Mr. Annon had better try it.”
“Saucy gypsy!” muttered Treherne.
But Mrs. Snowdon said, with a smile of double meaning, “Many a true word is spoken in jest.”