"Ah! you did? Then he must have misunderstood you. He certainly gave me to understand----" "Yes, I wrote to Robin saying that I was sorry--but I intended to keep the letters." Clare paused and looked at her sharply. This was the kind of thing that she had expected; of course the young person would bluff and stand out for a tall price, which must, if necessary, be paid to her. "But, Miss Feverel, surely"--she smiled deprecatingly--"that can't be your definite answer to him. Poor Robin!--surely he is entitled to letters that he himself has written." "Might I ask, Miss Trojan, why you are anxious that they should be returned?" "Oh, merely a whim--nothing of any importance. But Robin feels, as I am sure you must, that the whole episode--pleasant enough at the time, no doubt--is over, and he feels that it would be more completely closed if the letters were destroyed." "Ah! but there we differ!" said Dahlia sharply. "That's just what I don't feel about it. I value those letters, Miss Trojan, highly." Now what, thought Clare, exactly was she? Number One, the intriguing adventuress? Number Two, the outraged woman? Number Three, the helpless girl clinging to her one support? Now, of Numbers One and Two Clare had had no experience. Such persons had never come her way, and indeed of Number Three she could know very little; so she escaped from generalities and fixed her mind on the actual girl in front of her. This was most certainly no intriguing adventuress. Clare had quite definite ideas about that class of person; but she very possibly was the outraged female. At any rate, she would act on that conclusion. "My dear young lady," she said softly, "you must not think that I do not sympathise. I do indeed, from the bottom of my heart. Robin has behaved abominably, and any possible reparation we, as a family, will gladly pay. I think, however, that you are a little hard on him. He was young, so were you; and it is very easy for us--we women especially--to mistake the reality of our affection. Robin at any rate made a mistake and saw it--and frankly told you so. It was wrong--very; but I cannot help feeling--forgive me if I speak rather plainly--that it would be equally wrong on your part if you were to indulge any feeling of revenge." "There is not," said Dahlia, "any question of revenge." "Ah," said Clare brightly, "you will let me have the letters, then?" "I cannot," Dahlia answered gravely. "Really, Miss Trojan, I'm afraid that we can gain nothing by further discussion. I have looked at the matter from every point of view, and I'm afraid that I can come to no other decision."