“Yes.”
“Then I may?”
“Why should you wish to read such books? They will probably make you sad, and—and they may even make you afraid of Emile.”
“Afraid! Why?”
“I remember long ago, before I knew him, I had a very wrong conception of him, gained from his books.”
“Oh, but I know him beforehand. That makes all the difference.”
“A man like Emile has many sides.”
“I think we all have, Madre. Don’t you?”
Vere looked straight at her mother. Hermione felt that a moment had come in which, perhaps, she could force the telling of that truth which already she knew.
“I suppose so, Vere; but we need not surely keep any side hidden from those we love, those who are nearest to us.”