"She has not told you everything, Sir Thomas."
"Well, I hope there's not much more to tell. I hardly know already whether I'm topsy-turvey or how."
"You have, I presume, read the letter that I sent by Miss Deane?"
"Miss Deane gave me no letter. She told me a long rigmarole about----"
"Oh, Matthew! I lost the letter!" cried Olive, coming a step or two nearer. "I lost the letter; but I knew what you had written, and I delivered your message just the same."
"You could not know what I had written, unless you had read my letter," said Kelvin, coldly and sternly.
"Oh, Matthew! Why do you say such cruel things of me?" cried Olive, imploringly. "You know how I knew what the contents of your letter would necessarily be."
"Has the message which Miss Deane gave you been given also to Lady Dudgeon and to Miss Lloyd?" asked Kelvin of the baronet.
"Certainly--to both of them. They were told first of all."
"I hope you will not think that I am asking too much if I ask you to be kind enough to request the favour of Lady Dudgeon's and Miss Lloyd's presence here for a few minutes."