Had I known I should be welcome, nothing would have induced
me to suffer Grace to pass the last six sad, sad, months by herself."
"Known that you should be welcome! Surely you have not supposed, Lucy,
that _I_ can ever regard you as anything but welcome, here?"
"I had no allusion to _you_--thought not of you, Miles, at
all"--answered Lucy, with the quiet manner of one who felt she was
thinking, acting, and speaking no more than what was perfectly
right--"My mind was dwelling altogether on Grace."
"Is it possible you could doubt of Grace's willingness to see you, at
all times and in all places, Lucy!"
"I have doubted it--have thought I was acting prudently and well, in
staying away, just at this time, though I now begin to fear the
decision has been hasty and unwise."
"May I ask _why_ Lucy Hardinge has come to so singular and
violent an opinion, as connected with her bosom friend, and almost
sister, Grace Wallingford?"
"That _almost sister_! Oh! Miles, what is there I possess which I
would not give, that there might be perfect confidence, again, between
you and me, on this subject; such confidence as existed when we were
boy and girl-children, I might say."
"And what prevents it? Certain I am the alienation does not, cannot
come from me. You have only to speak, Lucy, to have an attentive
listener; to ask, to receive the truest answers.
Pages:
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777