He brought her to an alcove off one of the galleries where only one sconce with wax candles was alight.
“Why should you tremble, my dear girl?” said he. “What is there to be afraid of? I am your friend—you know that I would die to save you from the least trouble.”
“Trouble? Who said anything about trouble?” she cried. “I am in no trouble—only for the trouble I am giving you, dear Goldsmith. And you did not come in the bloom-tinted coat after all.”
He made no reply to her spasmodic utterances. The long silence was broken only by the playing of the band, following Madame Agujari's song—the hum of voices and laughter from the well-dressed mob in the rotunda and around the galleries.
At last the girl put her hand again upon his arm, saying—
“I wonder what you think of this business, my dear friend—I wonder what you think of your Jessamy Bride.”
“I think nothing but what is good of you, my dear,” said he tenderly. “But if you can tell me of the matter that troubles you, I think I may be able to make you see that it should not be a trouble to you for a moment. Why, what can possibly have happened since we were all so merry in France together?”
“Nothing—nothing has happened—I give you my word upon it,” she said. “Oh, I feel that you are altogether right. I have no cause to be frightened—no cause to be troubled. Why, if it came to fighting, have not I a brother? Ah, I had much better say nothing more. You could not understand—psha! there is nothing to be understood, dear Dr. Goldsmith; girls are foolish creatures.”
“Is it nothing to you that we have been friends so long, dear child?” said he. “Is it not possible for you to let me have your confidence? Think if it be possible, Mary. I am not a wise man where my own affairs are concerned, but I feel that for others—for you, my dear—ah, child, don't you know that if you share a secret trouble with another its poignancy is blunted?”
“I have never had consolation except from you,” said the girl. “But this—this—oh, my friend, by what means did you look into a woman's soul to enable you to write those lines—