“Of course not,” cried the girl, eagerly, “and so I intend to tell my father all about this visit, even if I could not mention yesterday’s.”
“Oh, but you must not do anything of the kind,” pleaded Marsten, thoroughly alarmed. “You will promise me, won’t you, that you will not say a word of my being here to-day?”
The girl laughed and shook her head.
“I’ll not make another promise so foolish as yesterday’s. You see, my promise did no good.”
“What! Did you tell Mr. Sartwell I had been here?”
“No. I said I wouldn’t, and I didn’t; but it made me feel wretchedly guilty when there was no occasion for it. What I mean is, that your plans did not succeed in putting an end to the strike, and so it would have made no difference after all, if I had told my father. Don’t you see that? No, I won’t make another such promise in a hurry again.”
“Miss Sartwell,” said Marsten, seriously, “you don’t understand all the circumstances; there are reasons why your father must not know I have been here. Although negotiations have failed for the moment, they will come on again shortly. If Mr. Sartwell knew I was here yesterday——”
“Oh, I intend to keep my promise about yesterday. I shall not say a word about that visit: it is of to-day’s I shall tell him.”
“But don’t you see? Yesterday’s visit led to this one. They are inseparably joined: you cannot mention one without leading to the other. Please promise you will say nothing about to-day’s either.”
“I won’t make any more promises. When my father came home late last night, he told me all that happened—what you had tried to do, and everything. I felt so guilty at having to keep anything from him, that I resolved to make no more promises to any one unless he knew of them and there was no need to feel guilty. I am sure he would have been glad to know we had talked about the strike, and were trying to help him; yet all because of that foolish promise I dared not say a word. I think, if you knew what I suffered, you would not ask me to keep anything from him.”