“That is because they hope to reform him.”
“And—stop me at once if you think I am getting impertinent—but have you never, never entertained any idea of the sort?”
Deborah blushed, but she turned to answer him very frankly.
“Yes, I have. I wanted very badly to reform Rees Pennant. And that set me thinking what sort of a thing such a reform could be. And then I began to doubt my own powers.”
“And you decided to give him up?”
“No, oh no. But I saw that it would need a great deal of love on the man’s side as well as on the woman’s to bring such a reform about.”
“And had you not in the meantime met some one who—well, who insisted on occupying a corner in your thoughts?”
Deborah started.
“Oh, no; at least——.” She hesitated in some confusion.
The earl laughed softly.