Then with a little sigh he folded the note in the
smallest possible compass and thrust it into his waistcoat pocket.
"Your young friend, my dear Brooks," he said, taking up his cue, "does
me the honour to mistake me for some one else. Will you inform her that
I have no knowledge of the person to whom she alludes, and suggest--as
delicately as you choose--that as she is mistaken an interview is
unnecessary. It is, I believe, my turn, Catherine." "You decline,
then, to see her?" Brooks said.
Lord Arranmore turned upon him with a rare irritation.
"Have I not made myself clear, Brooks?" he said. "If I were to keep
open house to all the young women who choose to claim acquaintance with
me I should scarcely have a moment to call my own, or a house fit to ask
my friends to visit. Be so good as to make my answer sufficiently
explicit."
"It is unnecessary, Lord Arranmore. I have come to ask you for it
yourself."
They all turned round. Mary Scott was coming slowly towards them across
the thick rugs, into which her feet sunk noiselessly. Her face was very
pale, and her large eyes were full of nervous apprehension.
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