"I—Louis—it would break our hearts if—"
"Not when you know her."
"Lily knows her and is bitterly opposed to her—"
"What!" he exclaimed, astounded. "You say that my sister knows Valerie
West?"
"I—forgot," faltered his mother; "I ought not to have said anything."
"Where did Lily meet her?" he asked, bewildered.
"Don't ask me, Louis. I should not have spoken—"
"Yes, you should have! It is my affair; it concerns me—and it concerns
Valerie—her future and mine—our happiness. Where did Lily meet her?"
"You must ask that of Lily. I cannot and will not discuss it. I will say only this: I have seen the—this Miss West. She is at present a guest at the villa of a—countess—of whom neither your father nor I ever before heard—and whom even Lily knows so slightly that she scarcely bows to her. And yesterday, while motoring, we met them driving on the Estwich road and your sister told us who they were."
After a moment he said slowly: "So you have actually seen the girl I am in love with?"