“Do not remind me of that fact unless you wish to drive me mad!” she exclaimed entreatingly; and he gazed at her in simple wonder, replying:
“Perhaps, then, I am mistaken in believing that you were engaged to Mr. Sherwood, and only angry because the marriage was a premature one?”
“Yes, yes,” she said; then studied his face to see if she could trust him.
It was the face of a man of sixty years, genial and open, with a sympathy that encouraged her to exclaim:
“Doctor Burns, I am in sore trouble, and I need a friend’s advice. Will you be that friend?”
“Most gladly, my dear young lady,” he replied, so kindly that she was emboldened to sketch for him, in few but moving words, her brief love story.
“Now you see where I stand, Doctor Burns—married to one man and in love with another. Could anything be more distressing?” she cried appealingly; and he agreed with her that it was most unpleasant, while he thought within himself that the world had far too many such distressing cases.
She continued eagerly:
“Mr. Bain promised to secure a lawyer to-day to take my case, so of course I should not even be here under the same roof with Mr. Sherwood; but——” She paused, and he added pityingly:
“The circumstances of the case made it impossible for you to decline returning here last night. Common humanity would have been outraged by a refusal. But why trouble yourself over the ethics of the case, my dear young lady? Divorce proceedings are not likely to be needed, since you may soon be a widow.”