"Then what _were_ you talking about?"

"I was advising her to marry no man who did not love her."

"What an extraordinary piece of advice to give to a girl who, as far
as you knew, was not going to be married at all! What led up to it?"

"Not Tita, certainly. It was I who led up to it."

"And why?"

"Do you think I have been blind and deaf, Maurice, during the past
fortnight?" Miss Knollys almost compels his gaze. "If you are going
to marry this young girl, _this child,_ I hope, I"--almost
passionately--_"hope_ it will be for her good and yours."

"Margaret! What a tone! You mean something!"

"I do." Margaret's strong face lights up with honest anxiety. "I
mean this!" She takes a step nearer him. "How is it between you and
Marian?"

"Why, how has it been?" asks he, with affected lightness; but a
change passes over his face.

"Oh, Maurice, take care!" says his cousin, laying her hand upon his
arm.

"Well, if you must have it," says he, frowning, "all that is over."