If she doesn't wish to marry you, why should she be afraid to have you
know the reason?"

"She's afraid to have YOU know it--not me!"

"To have ME know it?"

He laughed again, and Anna, at his laugh, felt a sudden rush of
indignation.

"Owen, you must explain what you mean!"

He looked at her hard before answering; then: "Ask Darrow!" he said.

"Owen--Owen!" Sophy Viner murmured.

XXIV

Anna stood looking from one to the other. It had become apparent to her
in a flash that Owen's retort, though it startled Sophy, did not take
her by surprise; and the discovery shot its light along dark distances
of fear.

The immediate inference was that Owen had guessed the reason of Darrow's
disapproval of his marriage, or that, at least, he suspected Sophy Viner
of knowing and dreading it. This confirmation of her own obscure
doubt sent a tremor of alarm through Anna. For a moment she felt like
exclaiming: "All this is really no business of mine, and I refuse to
have you mix me up in it--" but her secret fear held her fast.

Sophy Viner was the first to speak.

"I should like to go now," she said in a low voice, taking a few steps
toward the door.

Her tone woke Anna to the sense of her own share in the situation.
"I quite agree with you, my dear, that it's useless to carry on this
discussion. But since Mr. Darrow's name has been brought into it, for
reasons which I fail to guess, I want to tell you that you're both
mistaken if you think he's not in sympathy with your marriage. If that's
what Owen means to imply, the idea's a complete delusion."

She spoke the words deliberately and incisively, as if hoping that the
sound of their utterance would stifle the whisper in her bosom.

Sophy's only answer was a vague murmur, and a movement that brought
her nearer to the door; but before she could reach it Owen had placed
himself in her way.

"I don't mean to imply what you think," he said, addressing his
step-mother but keeping his eyes on the girl. "I don't say Darrow
doesn't like our marriage; I say it's Sophy who's hated it since
Darrow's been here!"

He brought out the charge in a tone of forced composure, but his lips
were white and he grasped the doorknob to hide the tremor of his hand.

Anna's anger surged up with her fears. "You're absurd, Owen! I don't
know why I listen to you. Why should Sophy dislike Mr. Darrow, and if
she does, why should that have anything to do with her wishing to break
her enga