“I should be afraid,” glancing up at him.
He laughed then. After a moment or two another expression crossed his face, and it grew more and more serious.
“I believe the sermons saved me. There was a time when I should have hated to own such a thing—and from a woman, too; so you may know how I have conquered myself.”
“The best of all victories.”
“Looking back at myself I wonder how you tolerated me last summer. I was ill and nervous to the last degree, but I had a frightful temper. I was proud and sullen, and—ungrateful.”
“Not always that.”
“I think I hated almost everybody. I did not want to be governed or counseled. And Stephen was so—rigid and prompt. He treated me like a little boy—”
“Oh, hush!” I interrupted.
“Some of it is true. He admits it. And when that awful affair happened I expected he would disown me. He is so proud, then he never did anything bad in all his life. So I felt that I had no mercy to expect from him.”
“But you were mistaken,” I said eagerly.