"Listen?"
"Yes. I don't mean behind doors and things. But you let them talk to you?"
"You cannot stop people talking."
"Can't you? I'd have stopped them pretty soon if they'd talked to me about you. What did they say?"
"You've said just now you knew."
"Very well. Who said it?"
"You've no reason to assume that anybody has said anything."
"Was it Mr. Lucy, or his sister?"
Miss Keating became agitated.
"I have never discussed you with Mr. Lucy. Or his sister." There was a little click in Miss Keating's throat where the lie stuck.