“And why not, pray? One may surely repeat a rumour of that kind without a breach of confidence.”
“But I did not hear it as a rumour, and I had no permission to repeat it. And besides, it was Mr Maxwell who told me.”
“Rather queer—his telling you, wasn’t it?”
“No. In the circumstances it was natural enough. I knew it, or I had guessed it before he told me.”
And then she went on to tell of the first note that Miss Essie had sent her, because she was one of the Gershom friends of her friend “Will Maxwell,” as she called him. “But it is a long time now since one of her pretty notes has come to me. But they correspond, and have always done so, since he came to Gershom.”
Clifton said nothing, and his sister was silent for a time. Then she asked:
“Who told you of their engagement?”
“Engagement! There is no engagement,” said Clifton shortly.
“No formal engagement, but that was only because her father thought Miss Essie too young; but the time of waiting is nearly over now.”
“Lizzie, if I had been asked who had been most in Mr Maxwell’s thoughts for the last year I should not certainly have said it was Miss Langden.”