"Oh! sir," cried Mattie, dismayed at this assertion, "you will think of this again—of her you have known from a little child, and should be able to trust. There's not a truer, kinder heart, in all the world!"
"She is true and kind—she would even have sacrificed her happiness for my sake—but she never loved me. I have her written evidence to that."
"The letter!—oh! the letter!"
"You knew it?—you helped to deceive me, too!"
"Not deceit—all was done for your own good, Mr. Sidney—she did not know her own mind when that letter was written; she——"
"She will never know it—she is a weak woman—God help her! She was never fit for me!"
"Yes," was the quick denial.
"No, I say. A thousand times no!"
He stamped his foot upon the floor, and then turned away, sterner and darker in his looks than ever. Mattie's heart sank then—for she read in his face a resolve that love could not soften, or time ameliorate. She lost hope herself from that day.
"I must make up for him as well as I can," said Mattie, after he had gone; "she must not break down, because he turns away. She is young and will get over it—let me see, now, how shall I teach my darling to forget all this?"