“No, Mr. Boland,” she replied, moving toward the door. “I’ve tried to tell Harry how impossible it is—that—”
“You’re a sensible girl,” he broke in bluntly. “As it happens, Harry is already engaged.”
The girl’s breath came in short, sharp gasps, but she managed to control her voice as she murmured:
“He is?”
“Yes.”
Boland placed his fingers in his vest pocket and drew out a fountain pen, the point of which he examined attentively. Patience felt that she ought to go at once, but somehow she couldn’t. She stood there trembling, scarcely knowing whether or not she should believe the other’s statement. She could not believe that Harry would do such an ignoble thing.
Boland glanced over his shoulder and saw her still hesitating on the threshold.
“Yes,” he repeated blandly. “He is going to marry the daughter of my business partner—a girl who will inherit half a million.”
He could see from the corner of his eye that the shot had told, but still Patience lingered, dazed.
“I—I see,” she faltered weakly.