Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/53

 for each other. And she hated him being named Ian—the son of a peasant girl!"

"Anyhow, Sir Ian didn't discharge him. He resigned the place of steward himself."

"Yes. But would he give up such a good berth and a pretty little home where he might have taken Miss Verney, if they'd married, unless there was a good reason? Perhaps Sir Ian advised him to resign."

"I don't believe he ever made love to Liane."

"I wonder? I shouldn't be surprised if they were secretly married, before he fell in love with Miss Verney, and now he regrets it too late."

"Nonsense! Tom and I always thought him a splendid young fellow. We've been so sorry for him, because of the burden he had to bear, through no fault of his own!"

"Liane was pretty, whatever she was," Kate grudgingly allowed. "Gentlemen used to turn and look after her. She knew that, and liked it. She was a vain piece, though her ladyship thought her so perfect."

To my mind, she couldn't compare with Miss Verney, no, not even if she d been in the same class of life," said Mrs. Barnard.

"Have you seen Miss Verney, lately?" asked Kate.

"Not for several weeks. She doesn't seem to walk this way any more, and she never drops in to ask about little Poppet here, as she used to do."

"She never goes anywhere, if she can help it, but