‘In saying that Mr Shield would try to keep Philip from you.’
The emphasis on the last word and the curious, half-sad, half-pleased smile which accompanied it, caused Madge to ask wonderingly:
‘Did you know Mr Shield?’
‘Ay, long ago, before he went abroad.’
‘Have you never seen him since?’
‘Once—only once, and that was a sad time, although we were not five minutes together. He heard only a bit of the truth: he would not stay to hear it all, and I daresay he has had many a sorry hour for it since.’
She ceased, and leaning back on her chair, lapsed into a dream of sorrowful memories. Madge did not like to disturb her, for she was suddenly amazed by the suspicion that once upon a time Austin Shield had been Aunt Hessy’s lover.
But the active dame was not given to wool-gathering, and looking up quickly, she caught the expression of her niece, and guessed its meaning.
‘Nay, thou art mistaken,’ she said, shaking her head, and that curious smile again appeared on her face; ‘there has only been one man that was ever more than another to me, and that’s thy uncle.... But I’ll tell thee a secret, child; it can do no harm. Hast forgotten what I was telling thee and Philip in the garden yesterday?’
‘About the two lovers? O no.’