"Why didn't you come home, Pam?"
"I wouldn't let them know that the visit had been so horrible. Papa was pleased for me to go. Then he fell ill, and I came away."
"What did she tell you, Pam?"
"She told me Sir Anthony was engaged to his cousin. It was she who intercepted his letter to papa, in which he said he would come back."
"Ah! there are such women. But why didn't he speak fully and frankly before he went?"
"I do not know. There was some reason. He spoke of something that stood in the way."
Lord Glengall frowned, with his eyes on the ground.
"I shall find out the reason," he said.
"Ah! no," cried Pamela, clinging to his arm. "Let it be. I have told him he must go away. I belong to you, and not to him."
A little spasm of pain passed over the irregular features.