"Yes, yes—"
"And you can trust me, dear, can you not? You distrusted me at first, I know, but—"
"Oh, I do trust you, and I know you are good. And it is that that makes it so wicked of him to say such things about us—"
In her excitement she had let slip more than she intended. She stopped abruptly.
"Tom?"
She did not speak, but the wound welled open in another sob.
"Don't trouble about him, dear! I don't know what he said, but if it was meant to make you doubt me, it was not true. You are more to me than anything in the world, Nance, and I have never loved any other woman—except my mother. Do you believe me?"
"Yes—oh, yes! I cannot help believing you. Oh, I wish sometimes that Tom was dead. When I was very little I used to pray each night to God to kill him."
"I'll teach him to leave you alone."
"I must go now. Grannie is waiting for her medicine."