"You are not going to faint, are you, dear?"
"I'll give you warning," Nancy said, twinkling up at him. "No, I'm better. Grace, go and see what Theresa's doing."
"She's crying," said Grace. "She always does. And then she makes up stories about herself, she told me she did, and after that she comes and does something nice to you. If she's got any money I expect she'll buy me some sweets."
"I think we had better leave her alone. I blame myself, Nancy. I ought to have warned you, but I had not realized what store she was setting on keeping the secret to ourselves. I did not even know it was to be a secret, but I am afraid I've hurt her feelings."
"Evidently," said Nancy dryly.
"Terry," said Grace in her low, husky voice, "always wants things to herself. She won't share anything of mine, and when I have girls to tea she just sits and stares at them. She says she wants a friend of her very own."
"Poor little girl," said Nancy softly.
"I think she likes it," said Grace serenely. "She's funny. Shall I tell you what she told me a little while ago? It isn't a secret."
"Not even one of Theresa's secrets?"
"Well, if it is," said Grace acutely, "it's the kind she'd like you to know. I heard her crying in bed, and I asked her what was the matter. She wouldn't tell me for a long time, and then she said she wished she knew about her real father and mother. She says she knows you found her on a doorstep or something like that. She kept saying, 'I'm a little waif! Oh, Daddy! oh, Mummy!'"