"How should I know?" said Sunray.
"We know better than to reject it," said Radiant.
"Perhaps after many years," said Willow, answering Sarnac's question, "after one has healed and grown and changed."
"Milly and I were close friends indeed, but we were never dear companions. I had told Hetty about my sister Fanny on the evening of our first day together when we walked over the hills, she was instantly sure that she would love Fanny, Fanny had seemed very brave and romantic to Hetty's imagination; but I did not tell Milly of Fanny until close upon our marriage. You will say that it was not Milly's fault that I was shy with her on Fanny's account, but assuredly it was a fault in our relationship. And it was clear that Milly accepted Fanny on my account and refrained from too searching a commentary because of me. Milly believed profoundly in the institution of marriage and in the obligation of an unlimited chastity upon women. 'It is a pity she cannot marry this man,' said Milly, anticipating perplexities. 'It must make everything so inconvenient for her—and everyone who knows her. It must be so difficult to introduce her to people.'
"'You needn't do that,' I said.
"'My people are old-fashioned.'
"'They needn't know,' I said.
"'That would be the easier way for me, Harry.'
"I found my own declarations of affection for Fanny considerably chilled by the effort Milly made to be generous in the matter.
"I found it still more difficult to tell her that Fanny's lover was Newberry.