CHAPTER XXIX 436
" Do you mean to say ," he asked , " that you are completely isolated from every connection ?"
" I do . Not a tie links me to any living thing : not a claim do I possess to admittance under any roof in England ."
" A most singular position at your age !"
Here I saw his glance directed to my hands , which were folded on the table before me . I wondered what he sought there : his words soon explained the quest .
" You have never been married ? You are a spinster ?"
Diana laughed . " Why , she can ' t he above seventeen or eighteen years old , St . John ," said she .
" I am near nineteen : but I am not married . No ."
I felt a burning glow mount to my face ; for bitter and agitating recollections were awakened by the allusion to marriage . They all saw the embarrassment and the emotion . Diana and Mary relieved me by turning their eyes elsewhere than to my crimsoned visage ; but the colder and sterner brother continued to gaze , till the trouble he had excited forced out tears as well as colour .
" Where did you last reside ?" he now asked .
" You are too inquisitive , St . John ," murmured Mary in a low voice ; but he leaned over the table and required an answer by a second firm and piercing look .
" The name of the place where , and of the person with whom I lived , is my secret ," I replied concisely .