They've put him into some beastly mining business. He says it's
beastly--I should like it, I know, but that's neither here nor there.
And I felt awfully sorry for him, one couldn't help being sorry for him,
and when he asked me to let him kiss me, I did. I don't see any harm
in that, do you? And then this morning he said he'd thought I meant
something more, and I wasn't the sort to let any one kiss me. And we
talked and talked. I daresay I was very silly, but one can't help liking
people when one's sorry for them. I do like him most awfully--" She
paused. "So I gave him half a promise, and then, you see, there's Alfred
Perrott."
"Oh, Perrott," said Hewet.
"We got to know each other on that picnic the other day," she continued.
"He seemed so lonely, especially as Arthur had gone off with Susan, and
one couldn't help guessing what was in his mind. So we had quite a long
talk when you were looking at the ruins, and he told me all about his
life, and his struggles, and how fearfully hard it had been. D'you know,
he was a boy in a grocer's shop and took parcels to people's houses in
a basket? That interested me awfully, because I always say it doesn't
matter how you're born if you've got the right stuff in you. And he told
me about his sister who's paralysed, poor girl, and one can see she's a
great trial, though he's evidently very devoted to her.
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