‘I scarcely spoke of Mr. Peak to anyone,’ she added. ‘People saw, of course, that we were acquaintances, but it couldn’t have seemed a thing of any importance.’
‘You spoke with him in private, it seems?’
‘Yes, I saw him for a few minutes—in Exeter.’
‘And you hadn’t said anything to the Walworths that—that would surprise them?’
‘Purposely not.—Why should I injure him?’
Christian knit his brows. He understood too well why his sister should refrain from such injury.
‘You would have behaved in the same way,’ Marcella added.
‘Why really—yes, perhaps so. Yet I don’t know.—In plain English, Peak is a wolf in sheep’s clothing!’
‘I don’t know anything about that,’ she replied, with gloomy evasion.
‘Nonsense, my dear girl!—Had he the impudence to pretend to you that he was sincere?’
‘He ma
