‘Promise you will not say one word.’
‘Ombra, I must act according to my sense of my duty. I will be very careful——’
‘If you do not want to drive me mad, you will promise. The day you speak to him of this, I will go away. You shall never, never see me more!’
And the promise had to be made.
CHAPTER XXI.
The promise was made, and Ombra lay down in her little white bed, silent, no longer making a complaint. She turned her face to the wall, and begged her mother to leave her.
‘Don’t say any more. Please take no notice. Oh! mamma, if you love me, don’t say any more,’ she had said. ‘If I could have helped it, I would not have told you. It was because—when I found out——’
‘Oh! Ombra, surely it was best to tell me—surely you would not have kept this from your mother?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘If you speak of it again, I shall think it was not for the best. Oh! mother, go away. It makes me angry to be pitied. I can’t bear it. Let me alone. It is all over. I wish never to speak of it more!’
‘But, Ombra——’