“Lucy, dear⁠—” said Miss Bartlett, gently reproving her cousin’s penetration.

“I should be astonished if you knew all. The boy⁠—an innocent child at the time⁠—I will exclude. God knows what his education and his inherited qualities may have made him.”

“Perhaps,” said Miss Bartlett, “it is something that we had better not hear.”

“To speak plainly,” said Mr. Eager, “it is. I will say no more.” For the first time Lucy’s rebellious thoughts swept out in words⁠—for the first time in her life.

“You have said very little.”

“It was my intention to say very little,” was his frigid reply.