Edmonson came yesterday when you were out?"
"Yes."
Then there fell between the pair as long an interval of silence as Mrs.
Eveleigh ever permitted where she was concerned. She broke it by asking,
energetically:--
"Elizabeth, if you really believed that you were not Mr. Archdale's
wife, why, in the name of wonder, did you go and put your whole fortune
into his business? And why did your father let you?"
"My father had no legal right to interfere," said the girl, ignoring the
first question, "and he did not choose to strain his authority. When was
he ever unkind to me?"
"I think he was then, decidedly." And the speaker nodded her head with
emphasis. "But you have not told me why you did it," she continued.
Elizabeth was silent a moment. "I had been the means of the whole thing
being discovered," she said, "and I had hurt him enough already."
"And he let you risk your whole fortune just because you had happened to
put your finger through a hole in the hall tapestry."
"No," cried Elizabeth, "he did no such thing. He is very angry with me
now because I invested it; he is not willing, even though he knows that
it's for Katie's sake."
"I thought you said just now that it was for Mr. Archdale's." Elizabeth
looked at her, and smiled triumphantly.
"I did," she answered.
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