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Rh make the exclamation, so when I had looked at him and he had looked at me in an emotional kind of silence for a few seconds, I asked him, "Why 'My aunt'?"

"Because she is my aunt."

"Surely not my Miss Paget?"

"I should think it highly improbable that your Miss Paget and my Miss Paget could be the same, if you had n't mentioned her bulldog, Beau. There can 't be a quantity of Miss Pagets going about the world with bulldogs named Beau. Only my Miss Paget never does go about the world. She hates travelling."

"So does mine. She said that being in a train was no pursuit for a gentlewoman."

"That sounds like her. She 's quite mad."

"She seemed very kind."

"I 'm glad she did—to you. She has seemed rather the contrary to me."

"Oh, what did she do to you?"

"Did her best to spoil my life, that's all—with the best intentions, no doubt. Still, by Jove, I thank her! If it had n't been for my aunt I should never have seen—my sister."

"Thank you. You 're always kind—and polite. Do you mean it was because of her you took to what you call 'shuvving'?"

"Exactly."

"But I thought—I thought ⸺"

"What?"

"I—don't dare tell you."

"I should think you might know by this time that you can tell me anything. You must tell me!"