At last, that day I saw her at Stratleigh, we determined to settle it off-hand.' 'And you never said a word to me,' replied Elfride, not reproachfully either in tone or thought.

Indeed, her feeling was the very reverse of reproachful.

She felt relieved and even thankful.

Where confidence had not been given, how could confidence be expected?
Her father mistook her dispassionateness for a veil of politeness over a sense of ill-usage.

'I am not altogether to blame,' he said.