"It is not altogether for pleasure that I pressed you to stay till to-night, Cora, although your presence gave great pleasure to my wife and self. I wished to have a private talk with you. Cora, you ought not to stay at Rockhold. You should come to us," said Mr. Fabian, as they bowled along the wooded road between the foot of the hills and the banks of the river.
He did not answer at once, but drove slowly on as if to gain time for thought. At length, however, he said:
"I think that a home with Violet and myself at the Banks would be much more congenial to you than one with your grandfather and his new wife at Rockhold."
"But, my dear Uncle Fabian, under present circumstances my grandfather is my natural protector and Rockhold my proper home until my brother has one to offer me."
"Cora, you are not frank with me. I know how you feel about staying at Rockhold, and also why you feel as you do; though I do not see by what agency or intuition you could have gained the knowledge you seem to possess."
"Uncle Fabian, I have no positive knowledge of any cause why I should shrink from continuing in my natural home. I have only suspicions, which perhaps you could clear up or confirm, if you would be frank with me."
He drove on slowly in silence without answering her. She continued:
"I wrote to you while you were in Europe, informing you that Mrs. Stillwater had been invited by my grandfather to come to Rockhold to remain as long as should be convenient to herself. You never replied to my letter."
"I never got such a letter, Cora. It must have been lost with others that miscarried among the Continental mails, when they were following me from one office to another. But even if I had received such a letter, it could have made no difference. I could not have prevented Mrs. Stillwater's visit, nor the event that resulted from the visit. I could not have written or returned in time."
"Should you have prevented the visit or the marriage that followed if you could have done so?"
"For the same reason that you, or Clarence, or Sylvan would have done so. For the reason of its total unfitness. But, Cora, my dear, I repeat that you have not been frank with me. You are hiding something from me."