“I am very warm and comfortable; indeed I thought the air remarkably clear and dry to-night,” Editha said, without moving.
“Really, Editha, I think I must insist——”
“Please don’t insist upon anything, papa,” returned the girl, wilfully; “if you are so weary, go you back to the Grand Union, and Mr. Tressalia will bring me by and by.”
She was determined that she would not be walked off thus summarily like a little girl in petticoats, and Mr. Dalton had to beat a retreat.
“I think I will go for a smoke, then,” he said, as he turned and walked abruptly away.
Paul Tressalia wondered what it all meant.
The man had betrayed his great agitation only upon the mention of Madam Sylvester’s name.
Did he know her, and if so was there enmity between them? Was that the reason of his sudden flight from Newport?
His manner was certainly very strange, and he had evidently intended to get Editha away before any meeting occurred between her and madam, but he could not very well urge the matter any further without betraying himself, and so he had walked away in no enviable frame of mind.
Editha watched him curiously until he passed from sight, then turning to her companion, she said: