Doris shook her head, and he emitted a suppressed and inaudible sigh of relief.
“Well, well, we will not speak of it; but this I will say, the quarrel, the misunderstanding, arose from no fault of his. The fault was mine, entirely mine, my dear young lady!”
It was a cunning speech, and produced the effect he had intended.
“Looking back to that time—when we parted, friends no longer—my heart is filled with remorse and sorrow! Ah, Miss Marlowe, if we would all of us reflect that life is short, and that death may come to prevent forever any reconciliation between parted friends, how often—ah, how often the rash and foolish quarrel would be averted;” and, apparently overcome by his emotion, he turned his head away and softly blew his nose. “But we will not go back over this sad quarrel,” he said. “I have come to see you this morning that I may see if I can be of any further use to you. I trust I may be. There are several things I find that I must speak to you about, much as I should wish to leave you undisturbed.”
“Will you please tell me everything I should know,” said Doris. “I am ashamed that I should have left everything so entirely.”
“No, no,” he murmured. “Such a terrible bereavement as yours, so sudden, is so overwhelming that no excuse is needed.” He took some papers from his pocket. “I will not trouble you more than I can avoid with business matters, my dear young lady, but there are a few things that I find I must speak to you about. First, I must ask you if there is any one, any friend you would rather I went to who would take this trouble off your shoulders?”
Doris shook her head.
“No, there is no one,” she said, quietly enough and with a firm voice. “I have no friend in all the world.”
“Except—dare I say except my humble self?” he murmured. “My dear young lady, what little I have done afforded me a melancholy satisfaction. I have felt all through that by serving you in some slight measure, I have been making an attempt at some poor atonement for the error that separated my poor dead friend and myself. Will you allow me to call myself your friend?”
Doris turned to thank him, and he inclined his head gratefully.