"The mater will be no end of glad to see you again, and you
must come down. I'll be down often and--and--Oh, little Mavis, won't
it be wonderful, if all our lives we were to bless the day we met
again?"
Although her sobs had ceased, she did not reply.
Two obsessions occupied her thoughts: one was an instinct of
abasement before the man who had such a tender concern for her
future; the other, a fierce pride, which revolted at the thought of
her being under a possibly lifelong obligation to the man with whom,
in the far-off days of her childhood, she had been on terms of
economic equality. He produced his handkerchief and gently wiped her
eyes. She did not know whether to be grateful for, or enraged at,
this attention. The two conflicting emotions surged within her;
their impulsion was a cause which threatened to exert a common
effect, inasmuch as they urged her to leave Windebank.
This sentiment was strengthened by the reflection that she was
unworthy of his regard. She had, of set purpose, lied to him, denied
that she was the friend of his early youth. True, he had previously
insulted her, but, considering the circumstances, he had every
excuse for his behaviour.
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