'I know all about the quarrel, Uncle Ross. George has written to me. The only thing I do not know is what became of Loring's letter to Uncle Jack, for it was not delivered to him.'
If Catherine had expected to break down the reserve of his manner, she was disappointed. Ross Carmichael was bent upon enduring his position as well as possible.
'The letter came here after my brother's departure, and I omitted to forward it. Had he sent for it at any time, he could have had it. It lies in the locked drawer of a bureau in the hall.'
'Will you let me take it to him?'
'Certainly.'
'Oh, uncle, George told me one sentence that is in it. Loring declared, "It is entirely owing to Uncle Ross's secret persuasion that I left home to enlist." Now that you know that Uncle Jack did not do you the injury of influencing Loring to leave you, won't you forgive and be friends with him again?'
Catherine's voice was no longer calm. Her appeal was made in impassioned tones, and her eyes were full of tears.
The squire unclasped her hands from his arm and turned away.
'If I am not mistaken, the—the position is changed between my brother and myself. John will probably be indignant because I—did not trouble to—to forward the letter. There was no absolute necessity for me to do so; it was his affair that he left me and went to live by himself.'
'Since you have wronged him, do you not wish to make amends to him?'