'Indeed,' she said, coldly; 'was it some one you knew well?'
'Very well. I had known her from the time when she was a little child.'
'Did you care for her much?'
'Yes, I cared for her a great deal. She was engaged to be married to some one else.'
'Is she married to him now?' she asked.
'No. At least I believe not.'
'Did you come out here to tell me this?' she asked, suddenly facing round upon him.
'Partly,' he replied. 'We are friends, and I thought you ought to know. I am not fool enough, Linda, to suppose that you would be likely in any case to feel anything more than a liking for a rough miner like myself, but I thought that it would, at any rate, be only fair that you should know that much of my past history.'
'Then you still care,' she said, after a pause, 'for this woman who is so like me?'
'Yes, Linda. I shall always care for her.'