"Yes," said Mrs. Brand, in the same loud, hoarse whisper. "I think so now."
Then Janetta was silent for a minute or two. The black, ghastly look in Mrs. Brand's wide-open eyes disconcerted her. She scarcely knew what to say.
"I have always hated her. I hate her now," said Wyvis' mother. "She has done me no harm; no. But she has injured my boy; she made his life miserable, and I cannot forgive her for that."
"If Wyvis forgives her," said Janetta gently, "can you not forgive her too?"
"Wyvis does not forgive her for making him unhappy," said Mrs. Brand.
"Wyvis,"—Janetta looked round at him. She could not see his face. He was standing with his face to the window and his back to the bed. "Wyvis, you have come back to your wife: does not that show that you are willing to forget the past and to make a fresh beginning. Tell your mother so, Cousin Wyvis."
He turned round slowly, and looked at her, not at his mother, as he replied:
"Yes, I am willing to begin again," he said. "I never wished her any harm."
"Then, you will forgive her—for Wyvis' sake? For Julian's sake?" said Janetta.
A strange contraction of the features altered Mrs. Brand's face for a moment: her breath came with difficulty and her lips turned white.