"You need some one to look after you," she said, decisively.
"It seems to me that you do that pretty well," he answered. "I don't want any one else."
"You need some one with more authority than I have," she said. "You ought to marry."
"Marry!" he gasped.
"Yes."
"Any particular person?"
"Of course! You know whom."
Mannering did not reply at once. He was looking steadfastly into the fire, and the gloom in his face was unlightened.
"Hester," he said, at last, in a very low tone, "I will tell you, if you like, a short, a very short chapter of my life. It lasted a few hours, a day or so, more or less. Yet of course it has made a difference always."
"I should like to hear it," she whispered.