Miss Jewett and Tessa Wadsworth were the only people in the world who had ever seen this phase of Sue Greyson.
Dr. Lake had never seen her subdued or frightened. At this instant she was both. There were some things that Sue could feel; there were not any that she could understand.
“Sometimes,” said Sue, in a hollow whisper, “I’m so afraid, I want to run away; I was afraid I might run away and so I asked Tessa to come to-night.”
“My dear!” Miss Jewett’s warm lips touched her forehead.
“Oh, it isn’t any thing! I like Gerald; I adore him. I wouldn’t marry him if I didn’t! I am always afraid of a leap into the dark, and I am always jumping into dark places.”
“It is a leap for him, too, Sue; you seem to forget that,” suggested Tessa.
“You always think of him, you never think of me.”
“It is a pity for no one to think of him; if I were to be married to-morrow, I should cry all night, out of pity for the hapless bridegroom.”
“Tessa, you ridiculous child,” exclaimed Miss Jewett.
“In books,” Sue went on, still with her face turned from them, “girls choose the one they are to marry out of all the world. Why don’t we?”