“My engagement? Not in the least!”
“I beg your pardon in that case. I have spoken too soon!”
“Too soon! Soon or late,” Catherine broke out, “you speak foolishly and cruelly!”
“What has happened between you, then?” asked her aunt, struck by the sincerity of this cry. “For something certainly has happened.”
“Nothing has happened but that I love him more and more!”
Mrs. Penniman was silent an instant. “I suppose that’s the reason you went to see him this afternoon.”
Catherine flushed as if she had been struck. “Yes, I did go to see him! But that’s my own business.”
“Very well, then; we won’t talk about it.” And Mrs. Penniman moved towards the door again. But she was stopped by a sudden imploring cry from the girl.
“Aunt Lavinia, where has he gone?”
“Ah, you admit, then, that he has gone away? Didn’t they know at his house?”