‘I could do nothing,’ exclaimed Hubert. ‘That she thinks of me at all, or has ever seriously done so, is the merest supposition. There was nothing binding between us. If she is false to herself, experience and suffering must teach her.’
The vicar mused.
‘Then you go your way untroubled?’ was his next question.
‘If I am strong enough to overcome foolishness.’
‘And if foolishness persists in asserting itself?’
Hubert kept gloomy silence.
‘Thus much I can say to you of my own knowledge,’ observed Mr. Wyvern with weight. ‘Miss Waltham is not one to speak words lightly. You call her a child, and no doubt her view of the world is childlike; but she is strong in her simplicity. A pledge from her will, or I am much mistaken, bear no two meanings. Her marriage with Mr. Mutimer would be as little pleasing to me as to you, but I cannot see that I have any claim to interpose, or, indeed, power to do so. Is it not the same with yourself?’
‘No, not quite the same.’
‘Then you have hope that you might still affect her destiny?’
Hubert did not answer.