Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/137

 "I suppose, then," said Maud thoughtfully, "that you weren't nice to him in India."

"No, I was as horrid as I knew how to be. I dare say I kept him from being asked to a few houses where he would have liked to go. And naturally he was never asked to ours, as I was mistress of it socially in those days."

"That explains things!"

"Yes. That explains things."

"He s remembered, all these years."

"He wouldn't be Major Smedley if he hadn't."

"Fancy!" murmured Maud. "As soon as he got into the room, he sent a scrap of paper to the coroner, suggesting things about your having been engaged to Ian. Then all those men consulted a lot, and at last decided to question you. He did it to put hateful ideas in their heads, and he would have quite succeeded, if you hadn't been too clever for him."

"Don't call it clever," Terry protested, almost irritably. "It's not clever to tell the truth."

"The clever thing is to tell the truth in the right way," Maud argued subtly, with another of her long-lashed glances. "And you did—quite wonderfully. You turned the tide for Ian—and you were so quiet about it, too! It was your manner as much as your words that did the trick."

"Oh, Maud, you make me almost hate you, when you use such expressions!" Terry broke out, her nerves