“Was the difference about me?” she asked presently.
Mary hesitated.
“Yes, Molly; since you force me to tell you, it was.”
“She has been saying some horrid things? Of course, I knew she would. I was prepared for that. And I could tell——” Molly paused. “No, no, I mustn’t!” she exclaimed hastily.
“What could you tell, Molly?”
“Don’t ask me. I would never speak to myself again, if I did tell. She has been saying that I never lost the ring, that I was poor and needed the money, and things like that. Tell me honestly, isn’t that the truth?”
Mary nodded her head and frowned. There was a silence, and presently Mary’s strong, brown fingers closed over Molly’s slender ones.
“Molly,” she began in a business-like tone of voice, “I’m almost glad that this subject has come up because I came here really to——” she broke off. “It’s very hard,” she began again. “I hardly know how to put it. You knew, Molly, dear, that I was rich, didn’t you?”
“Why, yes; I guessed you must be, although you have been careful not to mention it yourself. You’re the most high-bred, finest girl I ever knew, Mary,” she added impetuously.
Mary laughed.