“That odious Eva has made him do it. She was afraid I would blab secrets and break up her marriage,” Patty muttered viciously.
“My dear girl, if you know of any reason why he should not marry your proud cousin, you ought to tell him before it is too late.”
“I know dreadful things—but how can I tell him when he won’t even speak to me?”
“You could write him a letter, or you could confide it to me, and I would find a means to let him know.”
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.
Eva wondered if she ought to tell her father of Patty Groves’ presence in the city, and her veiled threats to betray to Reggie the secrets of his sweetheart’s shadowed past. She finally decided not to do so, saying to herself:
“Why vex poor papa by bringing up these old things that wound him so? There is no need of it, for all is safe since Reggie has promised never to speak to Patty again. She cannot tell her malicious stories to deaf ears.”
So she maintained a mistaken silence.
As Mr. Somerville had been absent from the city when the cousins made their raid on the family residence, and were incontinently routed by his indignant daughter, he was quite in ignorance of their visit to New York.