it. But did he tell you what I said?"

"He did not. Mr. Heathcroft IS a gentleman. He told me very little and
that only in answer to my questions. I knew you and he met the other
day. You did not mention it, but you were seen together, and when he did
not come for the ride to which he had invited me I thought it strange.
And his note to me was stranger still. I began to suspect then, and when
we next met I asked him some questions. He told me next to nothing, but
he is honorable and he does not LIE. I learned enough, quite enough."

I wondered if she had learned of the essential thing, of Heathcroft's
engagement.

"Did he tell you why I objected to his intimacy with you?" I asked.

"He told me nothing! Nothing! The very fact that you had objected, as
you call it, was sufficient. Object! YOU object to my doing as I please!
YOU meddle with my affairs! And humiliate me in the eyes of my friends!
I could--I could die of shame! I... And as if I did not know your
reasons. As if they were not perfectly plain."

The real reason could not be plain to her. Heathcroft evidently had not
told her of the Warwickshire heiress.

"I don't understand," I said, trying my hardest to speak calmly. "What
reasons?"

"Must I tell you? Did you OBJECT to my friendship with Doctor Bayliss,
pray?"

"Doctor Bayliss! Why, Doctor Bayliss is quite different. He is a fine
young fellow, and--"

"Yes," with scornful sarcasm, "so it would appear. You and my aunt and
he have the most evident of understandings. You need not praise him
for my benefit. It is quite apparent how you both feel toward Doctor
Bayliss. I am not blind. I have seen how you have thrown him in my
company, and made opportunities for me to meet him. Oh, of course, I can
see! I did not believe it at first. It was too absurd, too outrageously
impertinent. I COULDN'T believe it. But now I know."

This was a little too much. The idea that I--_I_ had been playing the
matchmaker for Bayliss's benefit made me almost as angry as she was.

"Nonsense!" I declared. "Miss Morley, this is too ridiculous to go on.
I did speak to Mr. Heathcroft. There was a reason, a good reason, for my
doing so."

"I do not wish to hear your reason, as you call it. The fact that you
did speak to him concerning me is enough. Mr. Knowles, this arrangement
of ours, my living here with you, has gone on too long. I should have
known it was impossible in the beginning. But I did not know. I was
alone--and il