She seemed abrupt, almost defiant; but it was only because she was weak.
Mr. Granger drew himself up slightly.
"Since your mind is so fully made up, and your arrangements perfected, there is, of course, no more to be said about the matter. I am surprised, since I have not been led to expect anything of the sort; but I have neither the right nor the desire to control your religious opinions. Fortunately, conscience is free in this country."
"But you are displeased!" she exclaimed tremulously; for every word had fallen like ice upon her heart.
"You cannot expect me to be pleased, since I am not a Catholic," was the reply.
Margaret sighed heavily under the first pressure of her cross. "You wish me to go away?"
He looked at her in astonishment. "Certainly not! When I say that I have no right or desire to interfere in your religion, I mean that I am not to persecute you or to make any difference with you on account of it. Nothing is to be changed unless you wish it."
She had expected him to ask some explanation; but not a word more did he say. He seemed to think that the subject was disposed of.
His silence wrung her heart like the veriest indifference; but he was not indifferent. He thought, "She has done all this without confiding in me, and tells me only when she must. It is not for me to question her. What I am to know she must communicate voluntarily."