'How could you have been to blame if an accident had happened, Miss?'
'My dear Nancy, if you had fallen back, some one would have been in fault, since we could hardly throw the blame upon an accident.'
'You mean I should have been to blame, if I had gone wrong again because you did not come?'
I smiled. 'I am not altogether sure which of us would have been most in fault, Nancy.'
'But how could you'——
'One thing is clear. I did not succeed in giving you faith in me, although I had faith in you.'
She looked dubiously at me a moment, then her eyes slowly filled with tears. 'Perhaps I haven't been ready enough to believe in people. Till now, nobody ever seemed to believe in me.'
'It is not for me to judge, Nancy. I can only say I am pleased that you had the strength and courage to return here and remain, under the circumstances.'
'You seem to know exactly the best thing to say to encourage me, Miss!' ejaculated Nancy. 'And even when you hit hard, as you sometimes do, I don't seem to mind it so much from you as I do from other people—it's different, somehow! You don't seem to enjoy thinking about my wickedness.'
'If I thought you wicked, I certainly should not enjoy thinking so; and if you were, you would not have come back here. Poor Nancy, I am afraid it has been rather hard for you!'