He made his excuses with the easy politeness of a man of the world.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Emily; I was considering how to put what I have to say in the fewest and plainest words.

Let me try if I can do it.
If Mrs.Rook had merely asked me whether your father and mother were living, I should have attributed the question to the commonplace curiosity of a gossiping woman, and have thought no more of it.

What she actually did say was this: 'Perhaps you can tell me if Miss Emily's father--' There she checked herself, and suddenly altered the question in this way: 'If Miss Emily's _parents_ are living ?' I may be making mountains out of molehills; but I thought at the time (and think still) that she had some special interest in inquiring after your father, and, not wishing me to notice it for reasons of her own, changed the form of the question so as to include your mother.

Does this strike you as a far-fetched conclusion ?" "Whatever it may be," Emily said, "it is my conclusion, too.

How did you answer her ?" "Quite easily.