That roused him in a moment.
"Yes; of course we have a great deal to say to you, Miss Marriott. I told Langley last night that she ought to write to you. I need hardly tell you, I suppose, that you have our warmest congratulations on your good fortune?"
"I don't think I care much about congratulations."
"Nevertheless, you must put up with them," with a faint smile. "You must pay the penalty of being a rich woman."
"Were you very much surprised?" looking him full in the face; but he did not return her glance.
"I am afraid I must own to a very fair amount of astonishment; such a romantic story has never before been told in Hepshaw. It savours a little of Hans Andersen."
"Ah, I know you think me silly, and all that," she replied, in a voice that was at the same time proud and pained. "I shall never be able to make any of you understand why I did it. I begin to see a grave ending to my little joke; and yet it made me so happy."
"I almost wish you had told us from the beginning."
"That would have spoiled everything. You and Mr. Logan would have made me resign my school at once, and my pleasant summer holiday would have been at an end. Perhaps it was cowardly; but I could not bear being rich."
"That sounds strange."