“N-no; you see, he was suffering so much with his arm,” stammered Fair, trying to seem indifferent.
“We are expecting him to call soon, when, of course, he will explain,” Mrs. Fielding said, with a grand air.
Sadie stared.
“To call? Why, how can he, when he’s on the ocean?” she inquired brusquely.
Mrs. Fielding began to look anxious.
“Please explain yourself, Miss Allen,” she said, in a haughty tone, and the girl asked quickly:
“Have you seen the morning papers?”
“No.”
“Oh, that accounts for everything, then,” replied Sadie, and she went on to say that an account of the accident had appeared in the morning papers.
“We do not take the papers. We cannot afford it,” Mrs. Fielding said bitterly. “But go on with your story, Sadie.”