“Yes, sir, and I was angry. His letter was so patronizing, so full of his own importance, that had I asked him to marry me, he could scarcely have worded it differently. I let him know that, attractive as he considered himself, I could quickly give him up.”
“But you were sorry it occurred?”
“For a while I missed his visits and his letters, then I grew glad it happened, for I would not have known my feelings toward you had not Fred engaged himself to me, and then broken the engagement. I compared him with you, and he appeared boyish and unstable. I could have no confidence in him. He would change his mind at the altar if he should see a prettier face among the spectators.”
“Was Mrs. Warfield aware of the engagement?” asked Mr. Courtney, amused at the quaint seriousness of the little woman.
“Oh, Mr. Courtney, no mother could have acted more nobly than she! I told her all, and gave her his letter and my reply.”
“Could you welcome Mrs. Warfield and her younger son to our home without one regret for ‘the might have been?’”
“Without one regret.”
CHAPTER XIV—ARCHIE FINDS A PACKAGE
Mrs. Warfield was deeply grieved and disappointed that Fred had given Hilda cause to lose confidence in him so utterly, as she had given evidence in her letter to him. She had intended speaking plainly to him in regard to his heartless conduct, thinking it would influence him in his future companionship with Hilda, and was much disappointed that the summons came for her to return to Dorton before his next visit home.
Her resolutions, like many others depending upon circumstances, were put aside, for instead of setting out to chide she remained to comfort. Fred, for the first time in his life, was completely cast down. Ever since receiving Hilda’s letter he had been revolving in his mind what he would say when they met, in order to place himself upon the former basis.