"I'm sorry I interrupted you," he answered, awkwardly. "I didn't know you were here."
"You need not avoid me because we've broken off our engagement. At all events, you have no reason to be afraid of me now. Good-bye! I'm just going home."
She went out, and James looked uncertainly at his parents. His father did not speak, staring at the ground, but Mrs. Parsons said:
"Mary has been asking us not to be angry with you, Jamie. She says it's not your fault."
"It's very kind of her."
"Oh, how could you? How could you?"
XI
Not till luncheon was nearly finished did Mary brace herself for the further ordeal, and in a steady, unmoved voice tell Colonel and Mrs. Clibborn what had happened. The faded beauty merely smiled, and lifted her eyes to the chandelier with the expression that had melted the hearts of a thousand and one impressionable subalterns.
"I knew it," she murmured; "I knew it! You can't deceive a woman and a mother."
But the Colonel for a moment was speechless. His face grew red, and his dyed eyebrows stood up in a fury of indignation.