"You? I don't see you making a fool of yourself."
"I do. I can see myself making an eternal fool. You wouldn't, Sophy, you haven't got it in you. But I could cry when I look at Gertrude. We oughtn't to be talking about it. It's awful of us. We've no right even to know."
"My dear, when it's so apparent! What does Hugh think of it?"
"Do you suppose I've given her away to him?"
"I imagine he knows."
"If he does, he wouldn't give her away to me."
"I'm afraid, dear, she gave herself away."
"Don't you see that that makes it all the worse for her? It makes it horrible. Think how she must have suffered before she could. The only chance for her now is to have her back, to face the thing, and let it take its poor innocent place, and make it beautiful for her, so that she can endure it and get all the happiness she can out of it. It's so little she can get, and I owe it to her. I made her suffer."
Sophy became thoughtful.
"After all, Jinny," she said, "you are rather a dear. All the same, if Gertrude wasn't a good woman——"