Page:The Breath of Scandal (1922).djvu/229

 "No, you don't!" he denied quickly. "You know nothing or next to nothing."

"About you and Mrs. Russell?"

"Exactly."

That checked her; she angered at him but she did not know what to say. He started forward with an impulse to rise, but remembered his hurt and did not. "Sit down, Marjorie," he directed shortly.

"Father, no!"

"All right," he accepted, looking up at her all a-tremble before him. "It's been bad on you, Margy, hasn't it?" he said, with the first tone of guilt which had got into his voice. "I wouldn't have had that, you know." Now it was not guilt, only pity for her.

Marjorie tossed her head. "I would." She would not let him be sorry for her.

He gazed steadily at her. "How can he feel so little?" she thought. "You've shown good sense so far, Marjorie," he said evenly. "I'm not supposing anything, but you will continue to show the same sense, though I will make the carry from now on as easy for you as possible. Before I was hurt, you know your mother and you were going to Europe; I had your reservation on the Aquitania for the sailing which is now a week from this Saturday. Your mother" at second mention of her, he shifted his gaze from Marjorie and looked steadily out the window—"expected to give up that reservation or abandon the trip altogether. Of course, the latter did not prove necessary; nor has the former. I convinced your mother of that morning. There is no reason, out of regard for my health, why you should not carry out your previous plan; there are, of course, many reasons why you should. The one which was sufficient to convince her was that it is