“Then now, Cecilia—your promise.”
“My promise!” Lady Cecilia’s eyes opened in unfeigned astonishment. “What promise?—Oh, I recollect, I promised—did I?”
“My dear Cecilia, surely you cannot have forgotten.”
“How was it?”
“You know the reason I consented was to prevent the danger of any shock to Lady Davenant.”
“Well, I know, but what did I promise?”
The words had in reality passed Lady Cecilia’s lips at the time without her at all considering them as a promise, only as a means of persuasion to bring Helen to her point.
“What did I promise?” repeated she. “You said, ‘As soon as my mother is safe, as soon as she is gone, I will tell my husband all,’—Cecilia, you cannot forget what you promised.”
“Oh, no, now I remember it perfectly, but I did not mean so soon. I never imagined you would claim it so soon: but some time I certainly will tell him all.”
“Do not put it off, dearest Cecilia. It must be done—let it be done to-day.”