Fixing her cold gray eyes on his face, she awaited his questions.
“Has not this sudden step of Sir John's surprised you?”
“It has,” she said, quietly.
“Your prospects are not so sure as they were?”
“No, they are changed,” she said, in the same quiet tone, and impassive countenance.
“And you feel no great love to your new stepmother?”
“I have only seen Lady Alice once,” she replied, fidgeting on her seat.
“Well, you will see her oftener now,” he observed. “I hope she will make the Hall pleasant to you.”
“You have some motive in this conversation,” said Clara, calmly. “You may trust me, I do not love Lady Alice sufficiently to betray you.”
And now her voice had a tone of bitterness surpassing Mardyn's; he looked steadily at her; she met and returned his gaze, and that interchange of looks seemed to satisfy both, Mardyn at once began: