"You could have got somebody else to look after Aunt Charlotte. Somebody else has to look after her now."
"Your Grandmamma made us promise never to send her away as long as it was possible to keep her. That's why your Uncle Victor never married."
"And all the time Aunt Charlotte would have been better and happier with
Dr. Draper. Aunt Lavvy—t's too horrible."
"It wasn't as bad as you think. Your Uncle Victor couldn't have married in any case."
"Didn't he love anybody?"
"Yes, Mary; he loved your mother."
"I see. And she didn't love him."
"He wouldn't have married her if she had loved him. He was afraid."
"Afraid?"
"Afraid of going like your Aunt Charlotte. Afraid of what he might hand on to his children."