"But what if I was? I cannot say how Mr. Chandos felt or thought."
"You can—if you choose. I asked you how he looked; what his manner betrayed: not what he felt or thought."
Loving him as I did, bound to his interests, could I be otherwise than on my guard? Nevertheless there must have been that in my tone and look that carried doubt to Mr. Edwin Barley.
"Mr. Chandos spoke to the officers quite calmly, sir. They were admitted at once, and he invited them into the sitting-room."
He looked at me keenly: I say, there must have been some doubt on his mind. "Are you aware that I know you, Anne? I think you must know me. As your uncle, your only living relative, I have a right to question you of these and other things."
My heart beat violently. Nearly too sick to speak felt I: and the words shook as they issued from my lips.
"You are not my uncle, sir. Selina was my aunt, but——"
"And as Selina's husband, I became your uncle, Anne, by law. She is dead, but I am living: your uncle still. So you did know me?"
"I have known you, sir, ever since the day I first saw you here."
"It is more than I did by you, young lady; or I should not have allowed you to remain so quietly at Chandos. For the sake of my dead wife, I hold an interest in your welfare: and that will not be enhanced by your companionship with Harry Chandos."