From his tone,—he thought, I know he thought—— Oh, what a ridiculous, impossible thing! Then I was determined to tell.
“It was one—who was Papa's favourite among us all.”
“A sister?”
“No, a brother.”
I had not time to say any more, for they were just starting, nor am I satisfied that I was right in saying so much. But the confidence is safe with him, and he will never refer to it; he will feel, as we do, that a subject so painful is best avoided, even among ourselves—on the whole I am glad he knows.
Coming indoors, the girls made me very angry by their jests, but the anger has somehow evaporated now. What does it matter? As I told Lisabel, friends do not grow on every hedge, though lovers may, and when one finds a good man one ought to value him, nor be ashamed of it either.
No, no, my sweet moon, setting so quickly behind that belt of firs, I will like him if I choose, as I like everything true and noble wherever I find it in this world.
Moon, it is a good world, a happy world, and grows happier the longer one lives in it. So I will just watch your silver ladyship—a nice “little lady” you are too, slipping away from it with that satisfied farewell smile, and then—I shall go to bed.