"Then you never saw my mother?"

"Never."

"Nor Marie?"

"Never to my knowledge,"

"You were in Geneva with Richard, you say. Where were you, when--
when--"

Edith could not finish, but Victor understood what she would ask,
and answered her,

"I must have been in Paris. I went home for a few months, ten
years ago last fall, and did not return until just before we came
to Collingwood. The housekeeper told me there had been a wedding
at Lake View, our Geneva home, but I did not ask the particulars.
There's a moral there, Edith; a warning to all foolish college
boys, and girls, who don't half know their minds."

Edith was too intent upon her own matters to care for morals, and
without replying directly, she said,

"Richard will tell you to-morrow or to-day, rather, of the
engagement, and you'll be guarded, won't you?"

"I shall let him know I disapprove," returned Victor, "but I
shan't say anything that sounds like Arthur St. Claire, not yet,
at all events."