You never heard anything before ?" "Never.

I was asked to send a verbal answer by the messenger who brought me the letter, accepting or declining the offer.

I declined it." "That was right.

But there's no hiding anything in this world; you must have some idea where the offer came from." "I haven't the slightest, not the remotest idea.

The messenger was a stranger to me; from what Sylvia said he was a stranger at Montgomery and had never seen the college before.