Soon she stopped talking entirely and did not even hear what I was saying.

I, too, became silent, and after a long pause the girl asked:-- "Cousin, who is the gentleman with whom you were travelling ?" I was piqued by Dorothy's conduct, and answered rather curtly: "He is a stranger.

I picked him up at Derby, and we rode here together." A pause followed, awkward in its duration.
"Did you--not--learn--his--name ?" asked Dorothy, hesitatingly.
"Yes," I replied.
Then came another pause, broken by the girl, who spoke in a quick, imperious tone touched with irritation:-- "Well, what is it ?" "It is better that I do not tell you," I answered.

"It was quite by accident that we met.

Neither of us knew the other.