And I said to myself: "Even if my suspicion be perfectly true, have I any right to mar such love as that?" I noticed that during all the conversation about the locket, she never once looked at me.
We went to Vale Royal, and there never was man so bewildered as I. Lance proposed that we should go visiting with Mrs. Fleming.
"Get your purse ready, John," he said—"this visit will require a small fortune."
"I find the poor value kind words as much as money," said the beautiful woman.
"Then they must be very disinterested," he said, laughingly—"I should prefer money."
"You are only jesting," she said.
It was a pretty sight to see her go into those poor, little, dirty houses. There was no pride, no patronage, no condescension—she was simply sweetly natural; she listened to their complaints, gave them comfort and relieved their wants. As I watched her I could not help thinking to myself that if I were a fashionable or titled lady, this would be my favorite relaxation—visiting and relieving the poor. I never saw so much happiness purchased by a few pounds. We came to a little cottage that stood by itself in a garden.
"Are you growing tired?" she asked of her husband.
"I never tire with you," he replied.
"And you, Mr. Ford?" she said.