Page:The Other House (London, William Heinemann, 1896), Volume 1.djvu/116

102 She's not an underhand enemy—she very soon lets one know it."

"You mean by something she says or does?"

Tony considered a moment. "I mean she gives you her reasons—she's eminently direct. And I'm sure she has never lifted a finger against you."

"Perhaps not. But she will," said Rose. "You yourself just gave me the proof."

Tony wondered. "What proof?"

"Why, in telling Dennis that she had told you she has something special to say to him."

Tony recalled it—it had already passed out of his mind. "What she has to say is only what I myself have already said for the rest of us—that she hopes with all her heart things are now smooth for his marriage."

"Well, what could be more horrid than that?"

"More horrid?" Tony stared.

"What has she to do with his marriage? Her interference is in execrable taste."

The girl's tone was startling, and her companion's surprise augmented, showing itself in his lighted eyes and deepened colour. "My dear Rose, isn't that sort of thing, in a little circle like ours, a