’My dear, how am I to say?  You know I have said already that if I could act on my own judgment, I would send none.’

‘But that was said in the bitterness of gall.’

’Come, Lily, say what you think yourself.  We shall get on better when you have brought yourself to speak.  Do you think that you wish to see him again?’

‘I don’t know, mamma.  Upon the whole, I think not.’

‘Then in heaven’s name, let me write and tell him so.’

’Stop a moment, mamma.  There are two persons here to be considered—­or rather, three.’

‘I would not have you think of me in such a question.’

’I know you would not; but never mind, and let me go on.  The three of us are concerned, at any rate; you, he, and I. I am thinking of him now.  We have all suffered, but I do believe that hitherto he has had the worst of it.’

‘And who had deserved the worst?’

’Mamma, how can you go back in that way?  We have agreed that that should be regarded as done and gone.  He has been very unhappy, and now we see what remedy he proposes to himself for his misery.  Do I flatter myself if I allow myself to look at it in that way?’

‘Perhaps he thinks he is offering a remedy for your misery.’

As this was said, Lily turned round slowly and looked up into her mother’s face.  ‘Mamma,’ she said, ’that is very cruel.  I did not think you could be so cruel.  How can you, who believe him to be so selfish, think that?’

’It is very hard to judge of men’s motives.  I have never supposed him to be so black that he would not wish to make atonement for the evil he has done.’

‘If I thought that there certainly could be no answer.’

’Who can look into a man’s heart and judge all the sources of his actions?  There are mixed feelings there, no doubt.  Remorse for what he has done; regret for what he has lost;—­something, perhaps, of the purity of love.’

‘Yes, something—­I hope something—­for his sake.’

’But when a horse kicks and bites, you know his nature and do not go near him.  When a man has cheated you once, you think he will cheat you again, and you do not deal with him.  You do not look to gather grapes from thistles, after you have found that they are thistles.’

’I still go for the roses though I have often torn my hand with thorns in looking for them.’

‘But you do not pluck those that have become cankered in the blowing.’

‘Because he was once at fault, will he be cankered always?’

‘I would not trust him.’

’Now, mamma, see how different we are; or, rather, how different it is when one judges for oneself or another.  If it were simply myself, and my own future fate in life, I would trust him with it all tomorrow, without a word.  I should go to him as a gambler goes to the gaming-table, knowing that I lose everything, I could hardly be poorer than I was before.  But I should have a better hope than