Page:Georgie by Dorothea Deakin, 1906.djvu/283

When the Girls Came Out She played nervously with an inky ruler.

"A long time ago," said she, "when I was first engaged to Georgie, you kindly and candidly showed me that I was going to spoil his life. You brought poor Mr. Muggeridge here to divert my affections, and free poor Georgie from my snares. It was partly your fault that Georgie broke off from me under a misconception, wasn't it? But perhaps you have forgotten."

I was conscious of a sudden reddening, and moved uncomfortably in my chair. It was not like peaceable Anne to begin such an unpleasant discussion.

"I suppose," she went on softly, "that you were surprised when I refused your friend. I don't think you quite realized that I happened, unfortunately for myself, to be fond of Georgie."

I was silent; perhaps a little ashamed into the bargain.

"When Mr. Muggeridge died and I found he had left me all that money," she went on, "I was surprised. But I was 267