"How can I tell you?"
"I wonder if she knows."
"She's not likely to tell you, if she does."
"She's bound to know, sooner or later. I wonder if one ought to prepare her?"
"Prepare her for what?"
"The shock of it. I'm afraid of her hearing in some horrid way. It would be so awful, if she didn't know."
"It can't be pleasant, any way, my dear."
"Do advise me, Johnson. Ought I or ought I not to tell her?"
Mr. Eliott's face told how his nature shrank from the agony of decision. But he was touched by her distress.
"Certainly not. Much better let well alone."