"But afterward! My dear, he is so young! And young men change."
Lady Coryston's death was not, of course, to be mentioned—except with this awe and vagueness—scarcely to be thought of. But hotter revolutionists than Corry have turned Tories by forty. Waggin harped on this theme.
Marcia shook her head.
"He won't change. Mother did not ask it. All she asked was—for her sake and father's—that he should hold his tongue."
A flush sprang to Waggin's faded cheek.
"A man!—a grown man!" she said, wondering—"forbid him to speak out—speak freely?"
Marcia looked anxiously at her companion. It was very seldom that Waggin betrayed so much heat.
"I know," said the girl, gloomily—"'Your money or your life'—for I suppose it sounds like that. Corry would say his convictions are his life. But why 'a man,' Waggin?" She straightened her pretty shoulders. "I don't believe you'd mind if it were a woman. You don't believe in a woman having convictions!"
Waggin looked a little bewildered.