"No, I can't be out morning and afternoon both."
"May I go with you?"
"To Dulwich!"
"You won't go until after meeting; I can meet you at the railway station."
"If you like."
As they walked home Esther told Fred the story of her betrayal. He was interested in the story, and was very sorry for her.
"I love you, Esther; it is easy to forgive those we love."
"You're very good; I never thought to find a man so good." She looked up in his face; her hand was on the gate, and in that moment she felt that she almost loved him.
XXIV
Mrs. Humphries, an elderly person, who looked after a bachelor's establishment two doors up, and generally slipped in about tea-time, soon began to speak of Fred as a very nice young man who would be likely to make a woman happy. But Esther moved about the kitchen in her taciturn way, hardly answering. Suddenly she told Mrs. Humphries that she had been to Dulwich with him, and that it was wonderful how he and Jackie had taken to one another.