"Why not?"
"It is impossible. I have said that I will not."
"That would hardly be a sufficient reason. The mere fact of having been betrayed into saying a thing hastily—"
Hermione flushed up. "I cannot take back what I have said."
"Even if that which you said was wrong?"
Marjory gave one quick glance at them both, said quietly— "I will be back in a few minutes," —and was gone. Hermione's hasty, "Oh, don't go!" did not deter her.
Hermione held up her head rigidly, but her lips were trembling. "Then you will not take me in!" she said, in a tone of grieved reproach. "I did not think I should have asked that in vain from such old friends. I see now how alone I am!"
"The question is not what you or I would wish, my dear child, but what is right. I am anxious not to help you to a hasty decision, which you will some day regret."
"It is not hasty. I have been thinking half the night. I cannot and will not go to East Bourne, after the way in which I have been treated. You are judging me hardly, not knowing all."
"Try to tell me all; I should like to understand the matter fully."