He controlled himself. He turned his chair so as to come within an easy talking distance.
"Will you pardon me," he said quietly, "if I ask for more information?
Did you only determine on this last night?"
"I think so."
He hesitated.
"It is a serious step, Miss Fountain! You should not take it only from pity for Augustina—only from a wish to give her comfort in dying!"
She turned away her face a little. That penetrating look pierced too deeply. "Are there not many motives?" she said, rather hoarsely—"many ways? I want to give Augustina a happiness—and—and to satisfy many questions of my own. Father Leadham is bound to teach, is he not, as a priest? He could lose nothing by it."
"Certainly he is bound," said Helbeck.
He dropped his head, and stared at the carpet, thinking.
"He would recommend you some books, of course."
The same remembrance flew through both. Absently and involuntarily, Helbeck shook his head, with a sad lifting of the eyebrows. The colour rushed into Laura's cheeks.