"Well, if it was a weakness or a sin I have suffered for it keenly enough, Nelson. While my mother had those hard feelings I could not tell her. Oh, Nelson, it seemed as if I should die when the time for your return came and we heard nothing of the brig. If you had been lost, what would have become of me? No one would have believed that I had ever been married, no matter what I had said."
"But you had the certificate?"
"Yes, but the people here don't understand those things. They're used to a publishment and all that. They never would see the difference between Connecticut and York State. Then, if they had sent to my uncle he knew nothing about it, you remember, and could not have helped me. Besides, I didn't even know where to find the people that stood up with us."
"Why, child, all these fears are nonsense. The certificate is enough."
"But it's all of no consequence now. You are here and we can speak out. It isn't like a poor girl being all alone without knowing any thing of the law."
CHAPTER XVII.
JEALOUS PANGS REGARDING MRS. MASON.
Thrasher sat with his hands clasped over one knee, looking thoughtfully on the ground as she spoke. Katharine had nestled close to his side, and was looking wistfully into his face.
"There isn't any trouble now, Nelson. Mother may be angry for awhile, but it won't be forever."
"I was thinking," said Thrasher, with his eyes resolutely fixed on the ground, "I was thinking that, as it had gone so far, we had better put off telling about it till after my next trip."