The tears showed in her voice now and who knows what Jim would not have been ready to promise if the word had not called out the memory of a promise given just a few weeks before to Rose. She had pleaded just not to be dropped. He had a clear memory of the whole conversation with her.
“Will you?” asked Horatia. “Truly it’s awfully hard to ask you. Won’t you promise just that?”
She felt like a child begging for a favor and like a woman to whom refusal would be outrage.
“Will it satisfy you, dear, if I promise to bear all this in mind and never to offend you again?”
The reservation puzzled Horatia and piqued her.
“Why won’t you promise outright?”
“Frankly, dear, I can’t. I can’t give a promise like that. It might be impossible to keep it without wounding Rose terribly.”
Horatia felt that she was wounded terribly. She turned her head away.
“Please,” begged Langley, “this is dreadful, Horatia. Can’t you trust my love for you and forget it?”
Horatia was weeping frankly now. He tried to take her in his arms but she drew away.