"He was like a father to me, ma'am, an' more...."
And then, as if to prove that she claimed no right at all in this room, as if all depended on her establishing finally the humble and spiritual nature of her regard, she breathed what in happier days had been close to her heart:
"He was teaching me to be a lady...."
Who shall say how marvels befall, and the dearest dream comes true? Was it the pitifulness of the little hope laid bare? Or the secret shrinking behind that, but surprised at last? Or was it the knowledge of a beautiful delicacy shown by this little girl before to-day?
Miss Heth's arm was about her neck, and her voice, which was so pretty even when you could hardly hear it, said, true as true:
"I think you've been a lady all along, Co-rinne."
And then the bands about Kern's heart snapped, and she could cry....
The storm came suddenly, like the bursting of a dam. A bad time certainly; it was hard to be torn so, yet to make no cry or sound; in any case, distressing to others. And surely salt water couldn't be good for this lovely cloth, where her face lay....
Yet one doesn't think overmuch of things like that, when the barriers on the great common go toppling down. And there was Sisterhood there all the time....
And above the stillness and the racking, Kern heard his beautiful lady's voice once more, speaking to her own heart now, so low, oh, so broken: