Page:Dale - A Marriage Below Zero.djvu/66

60 "I—"

"—and Ned told me to warn any friend of mine against him. Why? I asked. He would give me no reason, but, my dear, Ned is a conservative old fellow, and you so rarely hear him say a bad word against anybody, that if he does make an attack it carries weight with it. Personally, I like Ravener; but, my dear, I cannot help listening to what people say. Why I heard the remark the other day that the only reason Ravener and Dillington went into society at all, was to borrow its cloak of respectability."

"Perhaps you think they are highway robbers in disguise, or forgers, or playful assassins?"

"I think nothing, my dear. I only tell you what people say. i do that merely because it was I who introduced you. I had no more idea that you and Arthur Ravener would ever care for one another—"

"Did I say I cared for Arthur Ravener?"

"No, but you do, and my prophetic soul tells me that you will throw yourself away upon him."

"Don't listen to what people say, my child," I remarked loftily, "and you will be a great deal