She looked as if she could hardly believe me. “Surely you must have heard the name,” she said, “when I told you about poor Euneece?”
“No.”
“Well, then, Mr. Gracedieu must have mentioned it?”
“No.”
This second reply in the negative irritated her.
“At any rate,” she said, sharply, “you appeared to know Mr. Dunboyne’s name, just now.”
“Certainly!”
“And yet,” she persisted, “the name seemed to come upon you as a surprise. I don’t understand it. If I have mentioned Philip’s name once, I have mentioned it a dozen times.”
We were completely at cross-purposes. She had taken something for granted which was an unfathomable mystery to me.
“Well,” I objected, “if you did mention his name a dozen times—excuse me for asking the question—-what then?”