"
Before dark they were both on their way back to
Yardley. Burton's boy had not been hurt as badly
as his father thought; but one leg was broken, and
this was soon in splints, and without Jane's assistance.
Before they had reached her door her mind was
made up.
The doctor's words, as they always did, had gone
down deep into her mind, and all thoughts of going
abroad, or of even protesting against Lucy's marriage,
were given up. Only the spectre remained.
That the doctor knew nothing of, and that she must
meet alone.
Martha took Jane's answer to the post-office herself.
She had talked its contents over with the old
nurse, and the two had put their hearts into every
line.
"Tell him everything," Jane wrote. "Don't begin
a new life with an old lie. With me it is different.
I saved you, my sister, because I loved you,
and because I could not bear that your sweet girlhood
should be marred. I shall live my life out in
this duty. It came to me, and I could not put it
from me, and would not now if I could, but I know
the tyranny of a secret you cannot share with the
man who loves you. I know, too, the cruelty of it
all. For years I have answered kindly meant inquiry
with discourteous silence, bearing insinuations,
calumny, insults--and all because I cannot speak.
Pages:
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224