"So! I knew you wouldn't fail me there!"
"We all realize it: we expect great things of her," added Nan.
Lois bent toward her with her winning manner. She drew the parasol across her lap and clasped it in both hands.
"That is why I am appealing to you; that is what brought me here to see you—alone. I am leaving Phil here with you because—because it is so much better for her to be with you than with me! You have done my work for me—oh, we won't discuss that! I know it all. You must credit me with some little understanding before we go further!"
Just where that "further" was to lead, Nan could not guess. She murmured something to the effect that Mrs. Holton was far too kind.
"There is every reason why I should be kind," Lois retorted. "And this brings me to a rather more serious matter, and one—one I am not broaching without reason. I want to speak of Tom!" she flashed. The smile had left her face; her lovely eyes were very grave.
"There is nothing that we need say about Mr. Kirkwood," said Nan, reddening and stirring uneasily.
"Please do not say that! This is an important moment in your life and mine. And I must speak to you of Tom before I go away. We are not children—you and I. You are a woman and a very noble one and—you must let me say it—I have been one of the worst. There's no finer man in the world than Tom; I never knew that until I had flung him away. And it's only because of you and Phil that he found himself again. I know it all as clearly as though I had been here every day of all these years. You picked up the broken pieces and made a man of him again—you and Phil. And you very much more than Phil! I've come to tell you that I'm grateful for that. He deserves well of the world. He loves you; he wants to marry you. If I hadn't come back just when I did, you would have married him."
She knelt beside Nan with lifted face. There were tears in her eyes.
"Don't you see—don't you understand—that that is the only way I can be happy? I'm not saying this for your sake—and only half for Tom's. It's the old selfish me that is asking it," she ended, smiling once more, though with brimming eyes.