Madam glanced down the table, and spoke in sharp tones.
"Are you attending to Miss Field, Richard?"
Miss Field was on his left hand: Miss Dallory on his right.
"Yes, madam. She heard," added he to Miss Dallory, scarcely moving his lips.
"And it was high treason, I suppose," rejoined that young lady, confidentially. "There have been changes in your home, Mr. Richard, since I was last here. Mr. North's first children were all in it, then."
"And now two of them have gone out of it. Bessy to another home: Edmund to--his last one."
"Ah, I heard all. How sad it must have been for you and Mr. North! John and Frank wrote me word that they followed him to the grave."
"Very sad for him as well as for us," assented Richard. "But he is better off."
"Who sent that wicked letter?"
Richard North dropped his glance on his plate as he answered, apparently intent on what was there. Miss Dallory's keen eyes had been on his: and she used to read a great deal that lay within them.