However, no real harm has been done,
while I have been taught a valuable lesson; to take into account all
the elements I am using. I must not become so intent on the subject I
am pursuing as to ignore everything else.' And now, Dorothy, I want to
ask you a most intimate question, which I beg of you to answer as
frankly as I have confided in you."
"I know what your question is, Kate. A girl who is engaged wishes to
see her friend in the same position. You would ask me if I am in love
with Alan Drummond, and I answer perfectly frankly that I am not."
"You are quite sure of that, Dorothy?"
"Quite. He is the only man friend I have had, except my own father,
and I willingly confess to a sisterly interest in him."
"Well, if that is all--"
"It is all, Kate. Why?"
"Because there is something about him in this letter, which I would
read to you if I thought you didn't care."
"Oh, he is in love with Jack's sister, very likely. I should think
that would be a most appropriate arrangement. Jack is his best friend,
and perhaps a lover would weaken the influence which Tolstoi exerts
over an emotional person's mind. Lieutenant Drummond, with his sanity,
would probably rescue a remnant of her estates."
"Oh, well, if you can talk as indifferently as that, you are all
right, Dorothy. No, there is no other woman in the case. Here's what
Jack says:
"'It is amazing how little an Englishman understands people of other
nations.
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