"Perhaps I oughtn't to. It's mother's secret."
"Lie still," pushing her back gently among the pillows, "and let me tell you."
"A while ago the postman brought me a note from your mother. She told me that she had confessed to you something she told me last summer."
"Oh," exclaimed Marjorie, covering her face with both hands, "isn't it too dreadful!"
"I think your mother saw clearly that she had taken your life into her own hands without waiting to let God work for you and in you. I assured her that I knew all about that dark time of yours, and she wept some very sorrowful tears to think how heartbroken you would be if you knew. Perhaps she thought you ought to know it; she is not one to spare herself; she is even harder upon herself than upon other sinners."
"But, Aunt Prue, what ought I to do now? What can I do to make it right?"
"No, oh no; but it takes my breath away. I'm afraid he began to write to me again because he thought I wanted him to."
"Yes--but not--but not as mother thought I did. I never once asked God to give him back to me; and I should if I had wanted it very much, because I always ask him for everything."
"Your pride need not be wounded, poor little Marjorie! Do you remember telling Hollis about your dark time, that night he met you on your way from your grandfather's?"
"Yes; I think I do. Yes, I know I told him; for he called me 'Mousie,' and he had not said that since I was little; and with it he seemed to come back to me, and I was not afraid or timid with him after that."
"You wrote me about the talk, and he has told me about it since. To be frank, Marjorie, he told me about the conversation with your mother, and how startled he was. After that talk with you he was assured that she was mistaken--but, child, there was no harm, no sin--even if it had been true. The only sin I find was your mother's want of faith in making haste. And she sees it now and laments it. She says making haste has been the sin of her lifetime. Her unbelief has taken that form. You were very chilly to Hollis last night."
"I couldn't help it," said Marjorie. "I would not have come if I could have stayed at home."
"Perhaps it oughtn't to be--if it is proud."
"We will not argue about it now as there's somebody waiting for you down-stairs."