This was too hard, and I interrupted her.
“Morton!” I said. “Morton is the last person to dare to say anything against me.”
Here I checked myself, but Miss Courtland’s curiosity was aroused.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “I will not talk of Morton; it is enough that you are still my friend.”
“Certainly I am,” she said.
She held out her hand as she spoke, and I took it and raised it to my lips. At the same moment two people entered the room by different doors. One was Mr. Courtland; the other, Morton. Mr. Courtland seemed stupefied with astonishment, for he stood motionless, but Morton strode toward me.
“How dare you!” he gasped. “I will expose you.”
His audacity was too much for my self-control.
“Morton,” I said, in a low tone, “as your position is the same as mine, I warn you to be careful of what you say.”