'I gave her a fright,' I answered repentantly, and I told Martha what I had heard and said.
'Dear me, Willie, leave the girl alone, do,' said Martha roughly. 'Don't begin all that over again. We had enough of it before we knew he was killed; watching and worrying, worrying and watching, from morning till night. Let bygones be bygones.'
'But I can't forget——'
'Well, others can if you can't. Let the dead rest, Willie Lisle.'
'If we could be quite sure——'
'And so you ought to be. It's all a whimsey you've got into your head. Cuthbert's dead enough, poor lad, but it's my belief you wouldn't be satisfied if you had seen him buried down yonder with your own eyes.'
'Don't, Martha,' said Hildred, brushing away her tears and coming to my side.
'It's enough to vex a saint,' Martha went on, 'let alone me, just when the girl was beginning to leave off fretting, and to take hold a little. I won't have it done, and so I tell you, Willie.'
'I wouldn't harm Hildred,' I said sorrowfully, 'but she and I can't forget; after what grandmother said before she died, and all. You mind that, Martha.'
Martha gave a sort of moan.