"No, ma'am. But -I cannot undo what is done, Miss Cardigan."
"What our cheeks say your heart has done. No, child." And again I heard the unwonted sigh from Miss Cardigan's lips.
"Not my heart only," I went on, plucking up courage. "I have spoken - I have let him speak. I cannot undo it - I cannot undo it."
"Well?" said Miss Cardigan, looking anxious.
"It was done before I thought of mamma and papa. It was all done - it is done; and I cannot undo it now, even for them."
"My dear, you would not marry without your parents' consent?"
"No, Miss Cardigan. They may forbid that."
"What then? What harm would be done by your letting them know at once how the case stands. They would care for your happiness, Daisy."
Not with a Northerner, a farmer's son, and an officer in the
Northern army. I knew how it would be; but I could not tell
Miss Cardigan.
"What is it you cannot undo, little Daisy?" she said softly, I suppose seeing me look troubled. And she stretched out a kind hand and took hold of mine. It was very hard to bear. All this was a sort of dragging things into light and putting things in black and white; more tangible and more hard to deal with for ever after.