“Nor did I!” The judge controlled his anger. “I beg your pardon, Di, for my share in it. Gerry thinks I helped make the match. If I did, I’ll help unmake it. I’ll have a statement drawn up for you, and you’ll only need to sign it. I should hate to feel the marriage was my fault.”
“It’s no one’s fault—unless it’s mine. I—I had no right to think I loved him if—if I didn’t!”
“You didn’t—that’s it, my child. Mistakes like that make half the marriages. I’ve seen enough of it in my day, and I don’t mean to have your life ruined at the start. You’re getting hysterical, that’s all. I’ll see that you get out of it and have a chance to make your life over. You can trust me for that, my girl!”
“But if—if I shouldn’t feel that I wanted to—to have you do it, papa?”
He turned sharply.
“What’s the matter? Have you seen that fellow?”
“My husband? Oh, no, no!” Her face flushed painfully. “I don’t believe he wants to see me after the way I left him.”
The judge started to retort, but hesitated and reflected. He had been on the point of telling her that Faunce did want to see her, but he thought better of it.
“It was enough to cure him—I’ll admit that, my dear,” he finally replied.
Diane moved to the nearest cabinet, and lifting a little jar of ancient pottery, began to examine it as if she had never seen it before.