“Listen, and I will tell you. Before I die it is only right that you should know the truth—you who are my only friend.”
And she burst again into a flood of tears, stirred by the painful remembrance of the past.
I stood there holding her for the first time in my arms. And she buried her face upon my shoulder, trembling and sobbing as our two hearts beat in unison.
Chapter Twenty Five.
Makes Plain a Woman’s Fear.
“Tell me,” I said at last, full of sympathy for her in her dire unhappiness, “tell me, Tibbie, about this man Rumbold.”
For some moments she was silent. Her pale lips trembled.
“What is there to tell?” she exclaimed hoarsely. “There was nothing extraordinary in our meeting. We met at a country house, as I met a hundred other men. Together we passed some idle summer days, and at last discovered that we loved each other.”