“How?” asked Tarrell.
“Tell him that I have only been having a joke with him,” said Kate, surveying him with a steady smile. “Tell him that I overheard him and father talking one night, and that I resolved to give them both a lesson. And tell them that I didn’t think anybody could have been so stupid as they have been to believe in it.”
She leaned back in her chair, and, regarding the dumbfounded Tarrell with a smile of wicked triumph, waited for him to speak. “Raggett, indeed!” she said disdainfully.
“I suppose,” said Tarrell at length, speaking very slowly, “my being stupid was no surprise to you?”
“Not a bit,” said the girl cheerfully.
“I’ll ask you to tell Raggett yourself,” said Tarrell, rising and moving towards the door. “I sha’n’t see him. Good-night.”
“Good-night,” said she. “Where are you going, then?”
There was no reply.
“Where are you going?” she repeated. Then a suspicion of his purpose flashed across her. “You’re not foolish enough to be going away?” she cried in dismay.
“Why not?” said Tarrell slowly.