“To me?”
“Oh, well—I’m not sorry it should be,” she rejoined, her voice softening.
“But it’s all nonsense. Anne was determined to get you back.”
“Yes; because you told her she must. She owned up frankly. She said she wasn’t sure, at first, how the plan would work; but you were. You backed me for all you were worth.”
“Oh, if you mean that; of course I backed you. You see, she didn’t know you; and I did.”
She continued to look at him thoughtfully, almost tenderly. “Very few people have taken the trouble to care what became of me. And you hadn’t seen me for nearly twenty years.”
“No; but I remembered; and I knew you’d had a rotten bad start.”
“Lots of women have that, and nobody bothers. But you did; you remembered and you brought me here.”
She turned again, restlessly, and went and stood by the chimney-piece, resting her chin on her hand.
Landers smiled up at her, half deprecatingly. “If I did, don’t be too hard on me.”