"I see that."
"You do not know—?" said Diana, facing him with a startled movement.
"No. I know nothing, Miss Diana. I guess."
She sat with her face turned from him for a while; then, perhaps reminded by the blast of wind and snow which at the moment came round the house furiously and beat on the windows, she went on hastily:
"You wonder to see me here; but I ran away from home; and I can't bear to go back."
"Why?"
"Mr. Masters, mother wants me to"—Diana hesitated—"marry a rich man."
The minister was silent.
"He is there all the while—I mean, very often; he has not spoken out yet, but mother has; and she favours him all she can."
"You do not?"