"But can't I mourn for papa and mamma just as well in my beads as I can without them?"
"That may be, dear, but we must consider what other people will say."
"What have other people got to do with my mourning, Aunt Emily?"
"I don't know, but when you grow up you'll find that they have something to do with everything that concerns you."
"Well, then, I shan't mourn at all," replied Bella, defiantly. "If you won't let me mourn in my coral beads, I shan't mourn a single bit without them."
"There, there, Bella, go on with your lesson," said Emily sternly, "you are a naughty girl."
At the sound of Ordway's step on the threshold, she rose to her feet, with a frightened movement, and stood, white and trembling, her hand pressed to her quivering bosom.
"You!" she cried out sharply, and there was a sound in her voice that brought him with a rush to her side. But as he reached her she drew quickly away, and hiding her face in her hands, broke into passionate weeping.
It was the first time that he had seen her lose her habit of self-command, and while he watched her, he felt that each of her broken sobs was wrung from his own heart.
"I was a fool not to prepare you," he said, as he placed a restraining hand on the awe-struck Bella. "You've had so many shocks I ought to have known—I ought to have foreseen——"