"He told me," she went on, as he was about to speak, "that you had
made up your mind to tell mamma about it, directly you heard that I
was engaged to Mr. Carthew. That would have been something, but
would hardly have been fair to me. If I had once been engaged to
him, it would have been very hard to break it off, and naturally it
would have been much greater pain to me then than it has been now."
"I felt that. But you see, Bertha, until you did accept him, I had
no right to assume that you would do so. At least so I understood
it, and I did not feel that in my position I was called upon to
interfere until I learned that you were really in danger of what I
considered wrecking your life's happiness."
"I understand that," she said, gently, "and I know that you acted
for the best. But there are other things you have not told me,
Major Mallett--other things that George Lechmere has told me. Did
you think that it would have been of no interest to me to know that
you had forgiven the man who tried to take your life; and, more
than that, had restored his self respect, taken him as your
servant, treated him as a friend?"
The tears stood in her eyes now.
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