"What, Trix! for wanting to marry me?"
"Yes, for wanting to marry you. You, who don't care a bad cent for him!"
"How many bad cents did you care, Miss Stuart, when you were so willing to be his wife?"
"More than you, Miss Darrell, for at least I was not in love with any one else."
"And who may Miss Darrell be in love with, pray?"
"With Charley," answered Trix, her face still afire. "Deny it if you dare! In love with Charley, and he with you."
She was looking up at her rival, her angry gray eyes so like Charley's as she spoke, in everything but expression, that for an instant Edith was disconcerted. She could not meet them. For once in her life her own eyes fell.
"Are we going to quarrel, Trix? Is it worth while, for a man you have decided we neither of us care for—we who have been like sisters so long?"
"Like sisters!" Trix repeated bitterly. "Edith, I wonder if you are not scheming and deceitful!"
"Beatrix!"