It was such a
letter as any man would have thought meant everything; yet if I had wanted,
I could have proved by the words themselves that it meant nothing that
couldn't be taken back.
"I said to myself, If I can stand it, if I can hold out as I feel now, I
will marry him; then let come what may. I knew that some things would come,
some things that I wanted very much.
"Then came the strange delay, the silence, the wretched telegrams and
letters back and forth. Ah, dear, do I make you cry? Don't cry for him; you
have not lost him. Cry for me, the girl you thought was good and pure and
true! You know what I did then, when your dear letter came, giving me all
he had, calling me your daughter, all that was left you of John! I deceived
you in your grief, hating myself and loving you all the time. And here I
am, in this place! Do you wonder I had to speak?"
"Your words are literally as blows to me, Daphne," Mr. Withers groaned,
covering his face. After a while he said, "All I have in the world would
have been yours and your mother's had you come to me, or had I suspected
the trouble you were in. I ought to have been more observant.
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