Silence answered me, lasting I should think for nearly five minutes. Then suddenly she turned, clutched my hand between her own hands, and gasped rather than said—
"I must tell you! I must! I can't go on so any longer!"
"Tell me what, Elfie?"
Another break. "About—" she said, breathing hard. "About—. But you must promise first not to tell."
"I will do nothing hasty. Cannot you trust me?"
"Oh, I couldn't have you tell Mother! Millie would never forgive me. And it is only about you—yourself—not anybody else."
"If it is a matter which only concerns myself, I may safely promise to let it go no farther, without your consent," I said, feeling sure that she had some little revelation to make about the day at Gurglepool.
"And you won't—you won't—hate me?"
"I should find it difficult to do that," I said, kissing her. "Come, Elfie, don't be afraid?"
"Oh, I am not afraid. It isn't that. Only, everything is so horrid. And I ought to have spoken out,—and I didn't. And I don't know how to tell you—and I must."