"Till Christian does it?"
"Yes."
"When will that be?"
"I do not know. It may be - a great while. Why should I tell
them before, Miss Cardigan?"
"For many reasons, as they seem to my mind, Daisy; and I
thought, as they would seem to yours. 'Honour thy father and
thy mother.' Daisy, would it be honouring them, to let them
not know?"
There were so many things, of which Miss Cardigan was
ignorant! How could I answer her? I sat silent, pondering the
difficulty; and she was silent on her side, waiting for me to
think over it. It was never her way to be in a hurry; not to
leave her work half done neither, as I knew.
"I will honour them the best way I can," I said at length.
"Then you will write them next steamer. Is it not so, Daisy?"
"That would make it very difficult for me to honour them," I
said; "to honour them in action, I mean."
"Why so? There is no way so short as a straight way."
"No, ma'am. But -I cannot undo what is done, Miss Cardigan."
"What our cheeks say your heart has done. No, child." And
again I heard the unwonted sigh from Miss Cardigan's lips.
"Not my heart only," I went on, plucking up courage. "I have
spoken - I have let him speak. I cannot undo it - I cannot
undo it."
"Well?" said Miss Cardigan, looking anxious.
"It was done before I thought of mamma and papa. It was all
done - it is done; and I cannot undo it now, even for them."
"My dear, you would not marry without your parents' consent?"
"No, Miss Cardigan. They may forbid that."
"What then? What harm would be done by your letting them know
at once how the case stands. They would care for your
happiness, Daisy."
Not with a Northerner, a farmer's son, and an officer in the
Northern army. I knew how it would be; but I could not tell
Miss Cardigan.
"What is it you cannot undo, little Daisy?" she said softly, I
suppose seeing me look troubled. And she stretched out a kind
hand and took hold of mine. It was very hard to bear. All this
was a sort of dragging things into light and putting things in
black and white; more tangible and more hard to deal with for
ever after.