'I do not know whether to wait for your mother or not,' said he after a short pause.
'Pray wait for her if you are not very busy.'
'I came up only to see her, but perhaps she would not wish me to be here when she brings Felix back to the house.'
'Indeed she will. She would like you always to be here when there are troubles. Oh, Roger, I wish you could tell me.'
'Tell you what?'
'She has written to you;--has she not?'
'Yes; she has written to me.'
'And about me?'
'Yes;--about you, Hetta. And, Hetta, Mr Montague has written to me also.'
'He told me that he would,' whispered Hetta.
'Did he tell you my answer?'
'No;--he has told me of no answer. I have not seen him since.'
'You do not think that it can have been very kind, do you? I also have something of the feeling of John Crumb, though I shall not attempt to show it after the same fashion.'
'Did you not say the girl had promised to love that man?'
'I did not say so;--but she had promised. Yes, Hetta; there is a difference. The girl then was fickle and went back from her word. You never have done that. I am not justified in thinking even a hard thought of you. I have never harboured a hard thought of you. It is not you that I reproach. But he,--he has been if possible more false than Felix.'
'Oh, Roger, how has he been false?'
Still he was not wishful to tell her the story of Mrs Hurtle. The treachery of which he was speaking was that which he had thought had been committed by his friend towards himself. 'He should have left the place and never have come near you,' said Roger, 'when he found how it was likely to be with him. He owed it to me not to take the cup of water from my lips.'
How was she to tell him that the cup of water never could have touched his lips? And yet if this were the only falsehood of which he had to tell, she was bound to let him know that it was so. That horrid story of Mrs Hurtle;--she would listen to that if she could hear it. She would be all ears for that. But she could not admit that her lover had sinned in loving her. 'But, Roger,' she said,--'it would have been the same.'