"I sincerely hope that nothing may interfere to prevent
your meeting Mr. Glenarm's wish that you remain
through the year. That was a curious and whimsical
provision, but it is not, I imagine, so difficult."
She spoke in a kindly tone of encouragement that
made me feel uneasy and almost ashamed for having
already forfeited my claim under the will. Her beautiful
gray eyes disconcerted me; I had not the heart to
deceive her.
"I have already made it impossible for me to inherit
under the will," I said.
The disappointment in her face rebuked me sharply.
"I am sorry, very sorry, indeed," she said coldly.
"But how, may I ask?"
"I ran away, last night. I went to Cincinnati to see
Miss Devereux."
She rose, staring in dumb astonishment, and after a
full minute in which I tried vainly to think of something
to say, I left the house.
There is nothing in the world so tiresome as explanations,
and I have never in my life tried to make them
without floundering into seas of trouble.