She ventured to turn her head towards him. "Perhaps I was a fool. Judith will have told you that I was rude and ill-bred. It is true! I do not know what can have possessed me, only when she came up to me, so beautiful, and - oh, I cannot explain! I am sorry: this is very uncomfortable for you!"
Her utterance became choked by tears; she groped for her handkerchief among the sofa cushions, and was startled by finding a large one put into her hand. Her drenched eyes flew upwards to the Colonel's face; a sound between a sob and a laugh escaped her, and she said unsteadily: "Thank you! You are very obliging! Oh dear, how can you be so - so - I am sure I don't kwow why I am laughing when my heart is broken!"
Colonel Audley watched her dry her cheeks, and said "But your heart isn't broken."
Harriet emerged from his handkerchief to say with a good deal of indignation: "I don't see how you could know whether my heart is broken or not!"
"Of course I can know, for I know mine is not."
This seemed unanswerable. Harriet could only look helplessly at him, and wait for more.
He smiled at her, and took his handkerchief back "Crying won't mend matters. I rely on you to help me in this business."
The idea was so novel that she blinked at him surprise. "How can I?"
"By behaving like the sensible woman I know you to be. Confess! Didn't you mishandle Peregrine shockingly?"
"Yes, perhaps I did, but how could he be so faithless. I thought he loved me!"