Davenant was wise enough to attempt no sort of consolation.

He leaned a little forward and hid his own face with the palm of his hand.

When at last she looked up her face had cleared and her tone was less bitter.

It would have gone very hard with the Earl of Eastchester, however, if he had called to see his niece just then.
"Well," she said, "I want to know now why, after keeping silent all this time, you thought it best to tell me the truth this afternoon ?" "Because," he answered, "you told me that you had just been to see Scarlett Trent!" "And what on earth had that to do with it ?" "Because Scarlett Trent was with your father when he died.

They were on an excursion somewhere up in the bush--the very excursion that laid the foundation of Trent's fortune." "Go on," she cried.