Marie Belloc Lowndes

“ Without being vain you can tell yourself, Beppo, that you are very much more attractive than Captain Angus Stuart!”
He was surprised to hear her pronounce so easily the curious Scottish name.
“I am not really jealous of the man. She hardly knows him—I know that,” he said in a satisfied tone.
And his mother was glad indeed that she had not told him the little that she knew.
“You have made me feel quite happy again mamma! I know that you are right, and that I was a fool to be so impatient. But it is hard to be forced to go slow, as the English say, when one adores a woman!” ”

“ But—well,” he shrugged his shoulders, “I never have kissed an unwilling woman.”
“Her conduct is strange,” said the Countess thoughtfully, “for she certainly seems to like you.” The speaker still felt very shaky, but she was trying to pull herself together.
“I wonder if it has ever occurred to you,” said Beppo, “that there is already a man in Lily's life? I taunted her—for, mamma, I quite lost my head—and now, looking back, I remember that she said nothing. She did not deny it—as a modest girl would have done.” ”

“ The shabby portmanteau which he left at the hotel—I was shown it this morning—was not worth more than thirty or forty francs and only had a change of linen in it, and an old pair of boots.”
“Pray do not talk of this painful affair before your father,” said the Countess in a low voice. “And I need hardly warn you not to say anything about it before Lily either.”
“I don't see why I should not tell papa,” said Beppo quickly. “I think it would interest him very much. There is nothing more exciting, mamma, than a murder mystery. ”

“ He waved his hand, and smiled at her, telling himself with a little pang of concern, for he was an affectionate if a selfish son, that his mother had grown very much older in the last two or three years. ”