"After all, I won't," says she, with the most delightful inconsistency.

"It wouldn't be a secret if I did." "Oh, go on," says Hescott, seeing she is dying to speak.

"A secret told to me is as lost as though you had dropped it down a well." "You must remember first, then, that I should never have told you, only that you seemed to think she _couldn't_ get married.
It"-- hesitating--"it's about Margaret!" "Miss Knollys!" Hescott stares.

"What has she been up to ?" "She has been refusing Colonel Neilson for _years!"_ solemnly.

"Only this very night she has refused him again; and all because of a silly old attachment to a man she knew when she was quite a girl." "That must have been some time ago," says Hescott irreverently and unwisely.
"A very _few_ years ago," severely.