“Yes,” said the vicar, eagerly. “I wanted to talk to you about her.”
“Go on then.”
“I dared not commence,” he said, “I shrank from beginning; but that was one reason why I longed to talk to you, Trethick.”
“Well,” said the other, smiling. “I am all attention.”
“I wanted—not to reproach you for your sin, Trethick—”
“That’s right,” said Geoffrey, smiling bitterly.
“Don’t treat it with levity, for heaven’s sake, Trethick,” cried the vicar. “Think of the poor girl—of her life blasted—of the wrecked fame, and of the expiation that might be made by way of atonement.”
“Yes,” said Geoffrey, “I have thought of all that.”
“But an hour ago I was with the broken-hearted mother, who was sobbing at my feet.”
“And she asked you to see me?”