"It was frightfully hard for him to speak out; but he did it—quite openly. And we settled that I was free to tell you, before he came. He couldn't write the whole. But I have seen his mother. She is Mrs. Morris of Wyldd's Farm—Katherine's 'Nurse Molly.'"
Mrs. Winton's whole air was aghast. "Doris!"
"Yes, I know!"
"This is far worse than anything I have imagined. Of all impossible connections! Mrs. Morris. Farmer Paine's niece! The mother of that dreadful Jane! Are you mad?"
Doris stiffened instantly. Mrs. Winton saw her own mistake, but could not at once recover herself.
"Mrs. Morris!—of all people! And do you know—but of course you do not— all that has just happened? Do you know that her supposed husband has just come back, after being looked upon as dead for twenty years—and that he is not her husband at all, and she will not say who was? For all we know he may have been a convict—a murderer! Farmer Paine is in such distress. He came to see us only two days ago. And you— you would have that person for your mother-in-law!"
Doris was silent, and Mrs. Winton spoke again in a different tone.
"Of course—I understand. You saw him away from them all, and you did not realise what it would be. No doubt he is unlike the others—unlike that terrible young woman, Jane."
Another and longer break.
"He did not tell us this in writing."