Instinctively she seemed to draw back a little—almost as if she were afraid.
"Oh, no, thanks, Vin. No, thanks. Please leave me out."
"Why?" he demanded.
The pretty young widow was embarrassed and troubled; for she knew the fiery nature of young men; and did not want to provoke any quarrel by an unguarded expression.
"Well—it is simply this, you know—they are strangers—I mean—I suppose that neither your father nor any of the family have met them—they seemed somehow like strangers—unusual looking—and—and I shouldn't like to be the first. Leave me out, there's a good boy!"
"Why?" he demanded again.
So she was driven to confession.
"Well, look here, Vin; I may be wrong; but aren't these new friends somehow connected with your being so much away from home of late—with your being in those lodgings? Was it there you made their acquaintance?"
"If you want to know, I saw them first at Lord Musselburgh's," said he with an amazing audacity; for although the statement was literally true, it was entirely misleading.
And apparently it staggered the pleasant-eyed young widow.