‘Until such time as I could provide a home to which she could take her sister Maria. So you see what you have done for us.’
‘Maria!’
‘Yes. She promised her mother, on her death-bed, that Maria should be her charge, and no one could wish her to lay it aside.’
‘And the family are aware of the attachment?’
‘The brothers are, and have been kinder than I dared to expect. It was thought better to tell no one else until we could see our way; but you have a right to know now, and I have the more hope that you will find comfort in the arrangement, since I know how warmly and gratefully she feels towards you. I may tell her?’ he added, with a good deal of affirmation in his question.
‘What would you do if I told you not?’ she asked, thawing for the first time out of her set speeches.
‘I should feel very guilty and uncomfortable in writing.’
‘Then come home with me to-morrow, and let us talk it over,’ she said, acting on a mandate of Owen’s which she had strenuously refused to promise to obey. ‘You may leave your work in Owen’s hands. He wants to stay a few days in town, to arrange his plans, and, I do believe, to have the pleasure of independence; but he will come back on Saturday, and we will spend Easter together.’
‘Miss Charlecote,’ said Humfrey, suddenly, ‘I have no right to ask, but I cannot but fear that my having turned up is an injury to Sandbrook.’
‘I can only tell you that he has been exceedingly anxious for the recognition of your rights.’