"You have!"
"I thought it right."
"In that case there's nothing to be said. People must follow their consciences, of course. But why?"
"I was afraid you might persuade me to read them—against what I felt to be right."
"Have I been so positive?"
"No. But you are so kind a friend to me, I might have felt bound to do what you advised. And I could not think it right. I could not feel sure that my father would wish it. So I glanced them through—just to see that there was no money, and that there were no directions to me about things he might want done. And then I burnt them."
"All of them! Every one?"
"I thought I had burnt all, but I found to-day that I had not. Three were in another place. I came across them to-day, and I have read them. I had a reason for doing so, or else I would have burnt those too. And they have made me very unhappy."
"Do you mind telling me what they are about?"
"I think I should like to do that. I think I would rather show them to you, if you don't mind. It would be a comfort. They tell me more about his past than I have known before. I mean, about the reason that we had to leave our old home."