CHAPTER XXI.
MRS. LE GRANDE'S STORY.
"Did you ever hear that Mr. Winthrop was within one day of being married?"
My surprise at first rendered me speechless; but at last I murmured, "No."
"Then you have never heard the tragedy of his life. You have heard that for some reason he was embittered against our sex."
"A mere hint."
"So I should judge, or the rest would also have been told. Your acquaintance have been remarkably guarded. Well, I will tell you all about it."
"I do not wish you to tell me. I think Mr. Winthrop desires I should never know the particulars of that circumstance, else Mrs. Flaxman would have told me."
"You are very sensitive about your guardian. Women cannot afford such fine sense of honor. Men do not treat us in that way. If they find we have a skeleton concealed somewhere, they will not rest until it is brought out into the glaring light, for every evil eye to gloat on."
"Not every man. Many of them would help us to conceal what gave us pain. I believe Mr. Winthrop is one of them. Then should I listen to what he wishes buried in oblivion?"