"Well, first of all, trusting in this man Hobart."
She laughed, her eyes glancing up quickly into his face.
"And why now, please? Remember your confession; I may think this only jealousy."
"You are not so silly as that," earnestly. "Moreover, I may as well be perfectly frank. I did confess an interest in you, and in a measure, I still feel eager to serve you in every possible way; but you have changed so greatly, Miss Natalie, that my confidence in you has been severely tried."
"You no longer believe?"
"I hardly know; I fail utterly to understand you of late; you seem an entirely different girl. For one thing, you have deliberately deceived me."
"Indeed! in what?"
"In your visit to Arch Street with Percival Coolidge. That was no mission of charity to a poor widow and children."
"What then?"
"An arranged conference with this fellow Hobart. He rented that cottage for no other purpose, and left it the next day. You made a mistake when you took me along."