“Miss Alexander is an American,” Rupert explained, and Lillian’s heart sank; a sudden faintness seemed to come over her at his words.
Her brother Percy’s prophecy had been verified; he had fallen in love with this girl while on his tour in the United States.
But she would rather have died than betrayed anything of her dismay before the girl, and looking straight into Virgie’s clear eyes, she said, brightly:
“Ah! then I suppose you have recently come abroad, as I have not met you before.”
“Yes, we were passengers on the same steamer with Mr. Hamilton,” Virgie answered, “and we owe him a great deal, for he was very kind to us—mamma and me.”
“And how do you like England and English people?”
“Very much,” Virgie replied, smiling, while her eyes turned instinctively to Rupert, as if she judged the whole nation by her estimate of him.
Lillian shut her white teeth together viciously as she saw the look and Rupert’s answering smile, and she wondered what her mother would say when she learned that her uncle’s ward had bestowed his heart upon a hated American.
“Have you ever been in the United States, Miss Linton?” Virgie asked, wholly unconscious of the disturbance which her presence was creating.
“Yes, I traveled considerably there one summer several years ago.”