ly. His memory went
back to the past time--recalled the ill-placed passion of his youth, and
the cruel injury inflicted on him--his pride was roused. Was he
making himself ridiculous? The vehement throbbing of his heart almost
suffocated him. And there she sat, wondering at his odd behavior. "Even
this girl is as cold-blooded as the rest of her sex!" That angry thought
gave him back his self-control. He made his excuses with the easy
politeness of a man of the world.

"I beg your pardon, Miss Emily; I was considering how to put what I have
to say in the fewest and plainest words. Let me try if I can do it.
If Mrs. Rook had merely asked me whether your father and mother were
living, I should have attributed the question to the commonplace
curiosity of a gossiping woman, and have thought no more of it. What
she actually did say was this: 'Perhaps you can tell me if Miss Emily's
father--' There she checked herself, and suddenly altered the question
in this way: 'If Miss Emily's _parents_ are living?' I may be making
mountains out of molehills; but I thought at the time (and think still)
that she had some special interest in inquiring after your father, and,
not wishing me to notice it for reasons of her own, changed the form
of the question so as to include your mother. Does this strike you as a
far-fetched conclusion?"

"Whatever it may be," Emily said, "it is my conclusion, too. How did you
answer her?"

"Quite easily. I could give her no information--and I said so."

"Let me offer you the information, Mr. Morris, before we say anything
more. I have lost both my parents."

Alban's momentary outbreak of irritability was at an end. He was earnest
and yet gentle, again; he forgave her for not understanding how dear and
how delightful to him she was. "Will it distress you," he said, "if I
ask how long it is since your father died?"

"Nearly four years," she replied. "He was the most generous of men; Mrs.
Rook's interest in him may surely have been a grateful interest. He
may have been kind to her in past years--and she may remember him
thankfully. Don't you think so?"

Alban was unable to agree with her. "If Mrs. Rook's interest in your
father was the harmless interest that you have suggested," he said, "why
should she have checked herself in that unaccountable manner, when she
first asked me if he was living? The more I think of it now, the less
sure I feel that she knows anything at all of your family history. It