Mrs. Emsworth laughed; Amelie really was too stately for words.
' My dear, you are new to London, of course, but I wonder that no candid friend has ever told you. Bertie was once just madly in love with me. It was a great bore though I liked him well enough. But such classical ardour was beyond me. His letter—has he never confessed to you about the letter he wrote me? It was quite a lyrical letter, and it made me scream. I was just the only thing on God's earth.'
' Can you show it me?' asked Amelie very quietly. ' I should think it must be amusing.'
She made a rather pitiful attempt to laugh.
' I wish I could,' said the other, still maliciously; ' I am sure you would shriek over it. But I tore it up ages ago—last autumn, to be accurate, the first time I saw Bertie in America. It was rather kind of me—rather excessively kind, I have sometimes thought; I might have had some fun over it.'
She glanced carelessly across to Amelie. The girl had grown quite pale, even to the lips, and her hands were trembling. Instantly a compunction as quick as all her emotions seized the other.
' Ah! you mustn't mind my nonsense, dear Amelie,' she cried, jumping up. ' I have been talking very foolishly; I did not think it would make you mind like that.'
She took the girl's hand, but Amelie withdrew it.
' But there was this letter,' she said. ' And Bertie did make love to you?'
' Yes; why not? Show me the man, the most respectable married man, who says he has never kissed another girl in his life, and I will show you a liar. What does it matter?'
' A lyrical letter?' said Amelie.
' Yes, I wish I had kept it; I would show it you.'
