"I will. I would not betray such a secret for the world. Does he climb
to your window when the terrace is empty and silent, or is there some
secret door by which he comes and no one ever the wiser?"
"Is that what they say?" asked Barbara.
"Yes, and more," and Mrs. Dearmer put her finger to her lips to warn
Barbara that others were close to them and might not keep her secret so
faithfully as she would.
Barbara did not then understand all that was implied, but within a day
or two she was conscious that her name was being flung from lip to lip
with a laugh and a jest, that, no matter how innocent her words or her
actions might be, an evil meaning was twisted out of them and applauded.
Even her uncle laughed and seemed to agree when Heriot declared that a
woman who was shy in her love affairs was always the most dangerous, and
suggested that Mrs. Dearmer must look to her laurels now that Mistress
Lanison had taken the field against her. To deny the insinuations, or to
resent them, was only to make these men and women coarser, and increase
the laughter and ribaldry, so Barbara decided to stay away again. This
time, however, Sir John did not leave her alone.
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