“Really!” gasped Winthrop.
“Yes, sir, and you know it. Anyone but a Northerner would have more feeling than to force himself on the hospitality of two unfortunate ladies as you have done, Mr. Winthrop.”
“But—but——!” Winthrop sighed, and shook his head helplessly. “Oh, there’s no use in my trying to get your view, I guess. May I ask, merely as a matter of curiosity, whether the fact that Waynewood is my property has anything to do with it in your judgment.”
“No, sir, it hasn’t! I don’t ask how you came into possession of the place——”
“Thank you,” murmured Winthrop.
“But in retaining it you are acting abominably, sir!”
“The deuce I am! May I ask what you would advise me to do with it? Shall I hand it over to Miss India or Miss Holly as—as a valentine?”
“Our people, sir, don’t accept charity,” answered Julian, wrathfully.
“So I fancied. Then what would you suggest? Perhaps you are in a position to buy it yourself, Mr. Wayne?”