She expected this cut to have the effect of repulsing him, for he was following her to the door, but it did not.
“Do you know, soulless wax doll,” he asked, putting his head on one side, and trying to appear pathetic, “why Lady Forrest presented me with that invitation instead of you?”
“Why, no,” replied Nina, coming to an abrupt stop, and looking considerably disturbed. “So she should have asked me. I am married—I never thought—”
“She came upon me a day ago,” pursued Captain Fordyce, in the same meaning voice; “you were all singing in the music-room. I was behind the bars outside like an angel cast out of paradise.”
“A fallen angel,” whispered Nina.
“Fallen or unfallen, I was there. She came on me in her quiet way. She sees more than one thinks for. She was sorry for me because I was—”
“Don’t say that word,” exclaimed the girl, harshly; “I can’t endure it.”
“What word, birdie?”
“That hateful word—you do it on purpose. You want to play upon my feelings,” she said, passionately; “I will not have it.”
“Upon my life,” he interposed, with an air of genuine bewilderment, “I don’t know what it is.”