“God forbid! Totty, do you think seriously that I have acted in a way to make Mamie believe I love her?”
“I am sure you have—she knew it long ago. You need hardly tell her, she is so sure of it.”
“I am very glad,” George answered. “What will cousin Sherry say to this?”
“Oh, George! How can you ask? You know how fond he is of you—he will be as glad as I if——”
“There shall be no ‘ifs,’” George interrupted. “I will ask Mamie to-morrow.”
He had made up his mind, for he detested uncertainties of all sorts. He felt that however he might compare Mamie with Constance, he was on the verge of some sort of passion for the former, whereas the latter represented something never to be realised, something which, even if offered him now, he could not accept without misgivings and doubts. Since he had made Mamie believe that he loved her, no matter how unintentionally the result had been produced, and since he felt that he could love her in return, and be faithful to her, and, lastly, since her father and mother believed that the happiness of her life depended upon him, it seemed most honourable to disappoint no one, and if it turned out that he was making a sacrifice he would keep it to himself throughout his natural life.
Totty held her breath for a moment after he had made his statement, fearing lest she should utter some involuntary exclamation of delight, too great even for the occasion. Then she rose and came to his side, laid her hands upon his shoulders and touched his dark forehead with her salmon-coloured lips. George remembered that a humming-bird had once brushed his face with its wings, and the one sensation reminded him of the other.
“God bless you, my dear son!” said Totty in accents that would have carried the conviction of sincerity to an angel’s heart.
George pressed her hand warmly, but with an odd feeling that the action was not spontaneous. He felt as though he were doing something that was expected of him, and was doing it as well as he could, without enthusiasm. He looked up in the gloom and felt that something warm fell upon his face.
“Why, cousin Totty, you are crying!” he exclaimed.