"I cannot stay in Old Chester any longer," she said; "dreadful things

have happened, and--"

"What things? You said that before. Do explain these mysterious

allusions."

"Mr., Wright's son," she began--and then her voice broke. But she told

him as well as she could.

Mr. Pryor gave a frowning whistle. "Shocking! Poor Nelly!"

"You see, I must go away," she said, wringing her hands; "I can't bear

it!"

"But, my dear," he protested, "it wasn't your fault. You were not to

blame because a rash boy--" Then a thought struck him, "but how the

devil did he discover--?"

When Helena explained that she supposed old Mr. Wright had told his

grandson, Pryor's anger broke out: "He knew? How did he find out?"

Helena shook her head; she had never understood that, she said.

Lloyd's anger always confused her, and when he demanded furiously why

she had not told him about the old fool--"he'll blazon the whole

thing!"--she protested, quivering, that Mr. Wright would not do that.

"I meant to tell you, but I--I forgot it. And anyway, I knew he

wouldn't; he said he wouldn't; besides, he had a stroke when he heard

about Sam, and he hasn't spoken since. And Dr. King--" she winced--

"Dr. King says it's the beginning of the end."

"Thank God!" Lloyd said profoundly relieved. He stood frowning for a

minute, then shrugged his shoulders, "Well, of course, that settles

it; you can't stay here; there's no question about that. But there's a

very pleasant little town, on the other side of Mercer, and--"

"It isn't just the going away," she broke in; "it's being different

from people. I never thought about it before; I never really minded.

But now, I can't help seeing that if you are--different, I mean just

to please yourself, you know, it--it hurts other people, somehow. Oh,

I can't explain," she said, incoherently, "and I don't want to trouble

you, or talk about right and wrong, and religion, and--that sort of

thing--"

"No; please don't," he said, dryly.

"But you promised--you promised!"

"I promised," he said, "and I have a prejudice in favor of keeping my

word. Religion, as you call it, has nothing to do with it. I will

marry you; I told you so when I wrote to you. But I felt that if I put

the matter before you, and told you how difficult the situation was,

and appealed to your generosity, for Alice's sake--"




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