Cassandra bent her head lower over her bit of lace and was silent. Betty drew her chair nearer and put her arms about the drooping girl.

“Can’t you tell me all about it, dear?”

“Not if you are going to blame David.”

“I won’t, you lovely thing! I can’t, since he doesn’t know — but why — ”

“At first I couldn’t speak. I tried, but I couldn’t. Then he had to take Hoyle North, and I thought he would see for himself when he came back — or I could tell him by that time. Then came that dreadful news — you know — four, all dead. His brother and his two cousins all killed, and his uncle dying of grief; and he had to go to his mother or she might die, too, and then he found so much to do. Now, you know he has to be a —