214 GARRYOWEN 



" Why shouldn't I tell you Tt^hat he said? " 



" Oh, you can tell if you Hke. It doesn't 

 matter to me. Where did you hear him say it? " 



" In his bedroom, when he was packing his bag. 

 Papa was with him; the door was open, and I 

 heard him say it, and I heard papa say there was 

 never a girl made but there wasn't a better girl 

 made to match her, and that Mr Dashwood wasn't 

 to bother himself — " 



" You needn't tell me any more." 



" I can't, for Norah came and I ran away." 



" Where were you? " 



" Listening at the door." 



" Well, you certainly are frank! " 



" What's that mean? " asked Effie. 



" It means that you deserve a whipping. Come 

 on. And see here, Effie, you mustn't say anything 

 about that to anyone. Have you told anyone 

 else? " 



" Only Norah." 



" What did she say? " 



" She only laughed." 



Miss Grimshaw felt as though she were walking 

 through a veil of blushes. Happily there was no 

 one to see. Bobby Dashwood's extraordinary 

 behaviour by the bridge was nothing, absolutely 

 nothing, to the fact that he had told about it to 

 Mr French. To kiss, to run away, to tell! She 

 knew nothing of the position of the two men 

 towards one another ; she only knew just what had 

 occurred on the bridge and what Effie had told her. 



