"Nor my—Mrs. Donnan, I mean?"
"Never spoke to her in my life, I believe—Sis has, though!"
"Nor Elizabeth?"
Nipper's eyes were like gimlets now, but the calm serenity in those of Hugh John baffled them.
"Elizabeth Fortinbras? Oh, yes," said Hugh John tranquilly, "when she wants to ask me about anything—as you are doing now—then she speaks to me."
"Is that all?" Nipper's face worked. His lips were bitten so close that the words had almost to force themselves between the clenched teeth. Hugh John regarded him a moment gravely, as he did all things, with gaze unhurried, undismayed. Then he put his hands in his pockets and turned his back on Nipper with only the words, "Enough for you to know, anyway!"
And if ever Nipper came near striking any one a dastardly blow from behind, it was Hugh John who was in danger and at that moment.