"Yes; I assure you there is a regular rage about her. Oh, how stupid I am! Perhaps I ought not to have mentioned her, Lady Kynaston, for of course she did not behave very well to Sir John, as we all know; but now that is all over, isn't it? and everybody is wild about her beauty."
"I am glad to hear that Miss Nevill is prospering in any way," said her ladyship, stiffly. "I owe her no ill-will, poor girl."
Helen Romer is looking at Maurice Kynaston; he has not said one single word, nor has he raised his eyes once from his plate; but a deep flush has overspread his handsome face at the sound of Vera's name.
"That is where he goes," said Helen, to herself. "I knew it; he has seen her, and he loves her still."
The conversation drifted on to other matters. Beatrice passed all the gossip and scandal of the town under review for Lady Kynaston's benefit; presently Maurice roused himself, and joined in the talk. But Mrs. Romer uttered not a word; she sat in her place with a thunder-cloud upon her brow until the luncheon was over; then, as they rose from the table, she called her lover to her side.
"I want to speak to you," she said, and detained him until the others had left the room.
"You knew that Vera Nevill was in town, and you have seen her!" she burst forth impetuously.
"If I had seen her, I do not know that it would signify, would it?" he answered, calmly.
"Not signify? when you knew that it was for your sake that she threw over John, because——"
"Be silent, Helen, you have no right to say that, and no authority for such a statement," he said, interrupting her hotly.