‘I am afraid,’ he added, as if apologizing, ‘I shall always feel most at home in the smell of pine-trees.’
Mervyn’s predictions began to lose their force, and Honor smiled.
‘But,’ said Phœbe, turning to her, ‘I was longing to beg your pardon. I did not like to have any secret from you.’
‘Ah! you cunning children,’ said Honor, finding surface work easiest; ‘you stole a march upon us all.’
‘I could not help it,’ said Phœbe.
They both laughed, and turning to him, she said, ‘Now, could I? When you spoke to me, I could only tell the truth.’
‘And I suppose he could not help it,’ said Honor.
‘Of course not, if there was no reason for helping it,’ he said. There could be no dwelling on the horrible things that he would perpetrate, while he looked so like the rightful squire,
and while both were so fair a sight in their glad gratitude; and she found herself saying, ‘You will bear our name.’
There might be a pang in setting aside that of his father, but he looked at the glowing cheeks and glistening eyes beside him, and said, ‘Answer for me.’