"Married! You?"
She looked down in speechless astonishment at the tiny figure and childlike face of the little creature beside her.
"You married!" she repeated. "You small, childish-looking thing! And where in the wide world is your husband?"
Agnes Darling covered her face with her hands, and broke out into a hysterical passion of tears.
"Don't cry, you poor little unfortunate. Tell me if this faithless husband is the friend I once heard you say you were in search of?"
"Yes, yes," Agnes answered, through her sobs. "Oh, Miss Danton! Please, please, don't be angry with me, for, indeed, I am very miserable."
"Angry with you, my poor child," Kate said, tenderly; "no, indeed! But tell me all about it. How did this cruel husband come to desert you? Did he not love you?"
"Oh, yes, yes, yes."
"And you—did you love him?"
"With my whole heart."