"What did you understand of our friendship?"
"That there was an 'understanding,'" her mother repeated.
"I do dislike that word in the sense you are applying it!" said Honor with a forced laugh. "We are not going to get married, anyway, for Captain Dalton is a married man."
"Honey!" Mrs. Bright was dumbfounded. "Since when have you known this?"
"For quite a long time; since early summer, in fact. You have met his wife—Mrs. Dalton, the nurse. Everyone here fancied her name was a coincidence. She worked to come here that she might see her husband and get him to take her back." Having said so much, Honor went on to explain further the cause of the breach between husband and wife and the irrevocable nature of it. "I am telling you this, dear, as you have a right to know the truth, being my mother. It is, however, a personal confidence, which no one else need share," Honor concluded.
"Why did you not mention it to me before?" Mrs. Bright asked while a light dawned on her mind.
"Because I have been very sorry for him, and, somehow, I felt I ought to respect his confidence. But it will, inevitably, be known in time, and then you will be able to say you were not uninformed."
"Honor, are you in love with Captain Dalton?" Mrs. Bright asked pointedly.
Honor winced. "Yes, Mother. And he loves me."
Mrs. Bright looked faint. "You, my child, in love with a married man!" This was, indeed, a blow! It accounted, fully, for Honor's discouragement of eligible suitors in Mussoorie, which had greatly vexed her mother at the time. "This is dreadful!"