"Ah, it is only the saints who say that; commoners blame the fates or their fellows."
Durgan laughed in sudden surprise. "It is the first time I have been proposed for such a society."
"You have been very kind to me," she added impulsively; "I never expected to find so good a friend."
He wondered why she should not expect to find friends, but turned his mind perforce to her present problem.
"If you could think what it has been in your dealing with young Godson—what avoidable touch of graciousness has set his heart on fire, you might——"
"Oh!" she cried, "I have done nothing; I have only forgotten—forgotten that for most people 'love' and 'marriage' are interesting words. They have no interest for me." As usual, she regretted an impulsive confession as soon as she perceived it. "I only mean that I have no intention of marrying—or rather, that I intend not to marry."
"Such resolutions are sometimes broken."
"With me that is impossible." Her manner was growing more remote.
Durgan had not a prying mind, yet he found his thought full of questions. The more closely he observed the sisters, the less was he able to imagine an explanation of what he saw and heard. Bertha's was a larger intellectual outlook than her sister's, and it might seem she would weary of her companion; but, on the contrary, there was the closest comradeship. Miss Smith managed the house solely for Bertha's welfare; but the petted child was not spoiled, and made every return of unselfish devotion.