' I never ask twice,' she said. ' By the way, Mrs. Emsworth has telegraphed to know whether she may come over to lunch to-morrow. She is staying at Midhurst.'
' Please make some excuse,' said Bertie quickly; ' I do not wish her to come here.'
' Why not?'
' I desire you to make her some excuse,' he repeated.
She looked up, started at the quiet peremptoriness of his tone, and again there flashed into her mind the thought that had been there this morning, when she told him that there was a piece of him she did not know. At this moment she felt she localized it.
' What reason do you give me?' she asked. ' You used to be quite friendly with her last autumn.'
' Quite true; but I am not now.'
' Have you seen her since?' asked Amelie, not quite recognising from what that question really sprang.
' No, I have not.'
He paused.
' Why did you ask that?' he said quietly.
' It was a reasonable question,' she said. ' Mrs. Emsworth is a friend of mine too; I have every right to ask her to the house, unless you give me good reason.'
' I ask you not to exercise that right,' said Bertie.
Suddenly, and almost audibly in its distinctness, Amelie's mind said to her, ' We are quarrelling.' Her love for him, frightened, ran, as it were, towards him, but stumbled over her pride. She did not answer him, but left the room, feeling sick at heart.
