"The same applies to you," she went on the more severely. "We had no
idea who you were, either!"
"And now?" said Rachel, still mistress of the situation, for she knew so
well what was coming.
"And now we hear, and I wish to know whether it is true or not. Were
you, or were you not, the Mrs. Minchin who was tried last winter for her
husband's murder?"
Rachel looked steadily into the hard brown eyes, until a certain
hardness came into her own.
"I don't quite know what right you think you have to ask me such a
question, Mrs. Venables. Is it the usual thing to question people who
have made a second marriage--supposing I am one--about their first? I
fancied myself that it was considered bad form; but then I am still very
ignorant of the manners and customs in this part of the world. Since you
ask it, however, you shall have your answer." And Rachel's voice rang
out through the room, as she rose majestically from the chair which she
had drawn opposite that of the visitor. "Yes, Mrs. Venables, I am that
unhappy woman. And what then?"
"No wonder you were silent about yourself," said Mrs. Venables, in a
vindictive murmur.
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