"If you felt that, dear, it certainly was so."
Beatrice looked up in surprise, but her mother's face was quietly thoughtful.
"You can't mean that I did not do right?"
"No; there's a heavy penalty for leaving the circle you were born in and breaking caste. It would have hurt me to see you suffer as you must have done. Only the very brave can take that risk."
The girl was puzzled. Her mother agreed with her, and yet she had faintly reflected Harding's ideas.
"Well," Beatrice said, "I shrink from telling Father."
"I'm not sure that he need know. It would disturb him, and he might do something that we should regret. On the whole, I think you had better visit our friends in Toronto as you were asked. They would be glad to have you for the summer."
"Do you wish me to run away?" Beatrice asked in surprise.
"It might be better for both. Harding is not one of us, but I think he feels things deeply, and his is a stubborn nature. In a sense, it is your duty to make it as easy as you can for him."
Beatrice looked at her mother curiously.