But you have heard me so far without a
word of protest. I have not wounded you. Perhaps you will be as glad to
be free as I shall be--I don't mean glad, Lionel," she hastily put in,
"except in the sense of being free from an obligation that might prove
disastrous to both of us. Now, Lionel, what do you say? You see I have
been quite candid; and I hope you won't think I have spoken out of any
unkindness or ill-feeling."
He answered her at last,
"I agree with every word you have said."
A quick flush swept across Miss Burgoyne's forehead; but probably he
could not have told what that meant, even if he had been looking; and he
was not.
"I hope you won't think me unkind," she repeated. "I am sure it will be
better for both of us to have that tie broken. If I had not thought that
it would be as grateful to you as to me to be released, be sure I would
not have come and spoken to you while you were lying on a sick-bed. Now,
I promised Mr. Mangan not to talk too much nor to agitate you," said
she, as she rose, and smoothed her sun-shade, and made ready to depart.
"I hope you will get strong and well very soon; and that you will come
back to the New Theatre with your voice as splendid as ever.
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