“Robin,” she said slowly, “I’ve promised to marry somebody else ...”

There was a moment’s silence.

“Who is it?” Robin asked in a hard voice.

The girl made no answer.

“Who is it? Do I know him?”

Still the girl was silent, but she gave a hardly perceptible nod.

“Not ...? No, no, Mary, it isn’t true? It can’t be true?”

The girl nodded, her eyes to the ground.

“It’s a secret still,” she said. “No one knows but Mother. Hartley doesn’t want it announced yet!”

The sound of the Christian name suddenly seemed to infuriate Greve.