Clara put down her work and sat for a moment almost astonished.  It was not only that Lady Aylmer had asked so very disagreeable a question, but that she had asked it with so peculiar a voice a voice as it were a command, in a manner that was evidently intended to be taken as serious, and with a look of authority in her eye, as though she were resolved that this battery of hers should knock the enemy absolutely in the dust!  Belinda gave a little spring in her chair, looked intently at her work, and went on stitching faster than before.  ‘Yes, he did,’ said Clara, finding that an answer was imperatively demanded from her.

’It was quite necessary that he should write.  I believe it to be an undoubted fact that Mrs Askerton is is is not at all what she ought to be.’

‘Which of us is what we ought to be?’ said Clara.

’Miss Amedroz, on this subject I am not at all inclined to joke.  Is it not true that Mrs Askerton’

’You must excuse me, Lady Aylmer, but what I know of Mrs Askerton, I know altogether in confidence; so that I cannot speak to you of her past life.’

’But, Miss Amedroz, pray excuse me if I say that I must speak of it.  When I remember the position in which you do us the honour of being our visitor here, how can I help speaking of it?’ Belinda was stitching very hard, and would not even raise her eyes.  Clara, who still held her needle in her hand, resumed her work, and for a moment or two made no further answer.  But Lady Aylmer had by no means completed her task.  ‘Miss Amedroz,’ she said, ’you must allow me to judge for myself in this matter.  The subject is one on which I feel myself obliged to speak to you.’

‘But I have got nothing to say about it.’

’You have, I believe, admitted the truth of the allegations made by us as to this woman.’  Clara was becoming very angry.  A red spot showed itself on each cheek, and a frown settled upon her brow.  She did not as yet know what she would say or how she would conduct herself.  She was striving to consider how best she might assert her own independence.  But she was fully determined that in this matter she would not bend an inch to Lady Aylmer.  ‘I believe we may take that as admitted?’, said her ladyship.

’I am not aware that I have admitted anything to you, Lady Aylmer, or said anything that can justify you in questioning me on the subject.’

’Justify me in questioning a young woman who tells me that she is to be my future daughter-in-law!’

‘I have not told you so.  I have never told you anything of the kind.’

’Then on what footing, Miss Amedroz, do you do us the honour of being with us here at Aylmer Park?’

‘On a very foolish footing.’

‘On a foolish footing!  What does that mean?’

’It means that I have been foolish in coming to a house in which I am subjected to such questioning.’

’Belinda, did you ever hear anything like this?  Miss Amedroz, I must persevere, however much you may dislike it.  The story of this woman’s life whether she be Mrs Askerton or not, I don’t know’