Inwardly she was furious, outwardly calm and interested, and at the last she said, with marvelous sweetness:
"You have almost taken my breath away with surprise. So I am to have a sister to dispute my reign over papa's and mamma's hearts! How shall I bear it?"
He was astonished at the equanimity she displayed. She had a better heart than he had thought.
"So you do not care?" he exclaimed curiously.
"What does it matter whether I care or not? No one loves poor Roma now!" she sighed, with a glance of sad reproach.
The conversation had taken a reproachful turn, and he adroitly changed it.
"But I had not told you all. Your parents' good intentions must come to naught, for the reason that Miss Lester went away mysteriously last night, and the cause of her disappearance is supposed to be an elopement."
"Oh! With whom?"
Roma's attempt at surprise was not very successful.
"No one knows," he replied, and she exclaimed: