'Nor I,' said Felix. 'Angela, my dear, are you sure your discovery is not exactly what our old way was meant to teach you?'
She hung her head. He had enough experience of her to know that pressing her was useless, so he leant back giving way to his fatigue, and she sat on playing with a paper-knife, till at last she said, 'Brother, do you remember my scalding you?'
'Certainly.'
'When I would not let you pardon me, and you didn't want to.'
'Rather oddly put, but I remember.'
'Well!' coming and kneeling by him, 'I terribly crave for pardon now.'
'My poor Angel,' as he tenderly kissed her brow, and as she rested it on the arm of his chair, stroked her fair hair. Presently there came up a sort of choked whisper, 'for isn't it worse than we thought?'
'May be so, Angel, but you know that came of my own stupid choice of a landing-place, so that is my private affair.'
Her instinct had gathered more than she had been told, and her eager wilful chase of excitement and defiance of Clement had been the vain resource of a sadly foreboding, half-broken heart, dwelling vehemently on the whole mass of past sins, as if putting them in one vague heap dulled the unbearably acute sense of the one act of vain flightiness that had produced such consequences, and now, though she guessed enough to be unwilling to agitate him, the comfort of the avowal and of his caress was infinite.
He partly perceived how it was, and waited a little before saying, 'I look to you as my great help if this comes to anything. You are the family nurse.'