Give us your blessing, there's a dear.
Your loving
Adeline Fielding.
Anne's eyes filled with tears. At last she saw Adeline Fielding completely, as she was, without any fascination. She thought: "She's marrying to get away from Colin. She's left him to me to look after. How could she leave him? How could she?"
Anne didn't go up for the wedding. She told Adeline it wasn't much use asking her when she knew that Colin couldn't be left.
"Or, if you like, that I can't leave him."
Her father wrote back:
Your Aunt Adeline thinks you reproach her for leaving Colin. I told her you were too intelligent to do anything of the sort. You'll agree it's the best thing she could do for him. She's no more capable of looking after Colin than a kitten. She wants to be looked after herself, and you ought to be grateful to me for relieving you of the job.
But I don't like your being alone down there with Colin. If he isn't better we must send him to a nursing home.
Are you wondering whether we're going to be happy?