"Mere figures of speech!" remarked Douglas.
"They meant she was ready to work with her own hands for happiness," said Leslie indignantly.
"I think she's too late!" said Douglas. "I am afraid she is one of the unhappiest women in the world to-night!"
"Douglas, it wrings my heart!" cried Leslie.
"Mine also, but what can we do?" he answered. "For ten years, she has persisted in having her way, you tell me; what could she have expected?"
"That he would have some heart," protested Leslie. "That he would forgive when he was asked, as all of us are commanded to."
"Does it occur to you that he might have confronted her with something that prevented her from asking?" suggested Douglas. "She may never have reached her flowers and her proposed concessions."
"What makes you think so?" queried Leslie.
"What I see and surmise, and a thing I know."
"What can I do?" asked Leslie.