“What!”
Rochester looked rather uncomfortable.
“It’s only club talk,” he said deprecatingly. “Dare say it’s all lies.”
June pushed back her chair; her brain was in a whirl; she stared at Rochester with dazed eyes.
“Of course you’re mad, quite mad,” she said calmly.
“Or I am! which is it?... My dear man, the girl Micky went to Paris with was Esther! my Esther Shepstone! and here you are trying to tell me that she and Micky are married!” She burst into hysterical laughter.
“I’m not trying to tell you,” he protested injuredly. “It’s only what I heard; and any way, if Mellowes went to Paris with Miss Shepstone–––”
He broke off before the anger in June’s eyes.
“If you speak about Esther in that tone of voice again, I shall hate you for ever,” she said furiously. “If you must know the truth, I’ll tell it to you, and another time just don’t judge people till you’ve heard both sides of the question,” and she promptly proceeded to tell him the whole story of her meeting with Esther, and all that had happened since.