"You have got my full confidence," she replied.
"I mean that you should tell me anything that there is to be told."
"It was only this, that I had learned to love you before I thought that my love would be returned."
"Oh;--was that it?" said Captain Aylmer, in a tone which seemed to imply something like disappointment.
"Yes, Fred; that was it. And how could I, under such circumstances, trust myself to be gentle with you, or to look to you for assistance? How could I guess then all that I know now?"
"And therefore I was driven to be harsh. My aunt used to speak to me about it."
"I don't wonder at that, for she was very anxious that we should be married."
Clara for a moment felt herself to be uncomfortable as she heard these words, half perceiving that they implied some instigation on the part of Mrs. Winterfield. Could it be that Captain Aylmer's offer had been made in obedience to a promise? "Did you know of her anxiety?" she asked.
"Well;--yes; that is to say, I guessed it. It was natural enough that the same idea should come to her and to me too. Of course, seeing us so much thrown together, she could not but think of our being married as a chance upon the cards."
"She used to tell me that I was harsh to you;--abrupt, she called it. But what could I do? I'll tell you, Fred, how I first found out that I really cared for you. What I tell you now is of course a secret; and I should speak of it to no one under any circumstances but those which unite us two together. My cousin Will, when he was at Belton, made me an offer."
"He did, did he? You did not tell me that when you were saying all those fine things in his praise in the railway carriage."
"Of course I did not. Why should I? I wasn't bound to tell you my secrets then, sir."
"Is there anything so wonderful in that? But, wonderful or not, he did."
"It wouldn't have been a bad match, if all that you say about his property is true."
"If you come to that, it would have been a very good match; and perhaps you think I was silly to decline it?"
"Papa thought so;--but, then, I couldn't tell papa the whole truth, as I can tell it to you now, Captain Aylmer. I couldn't tell dear papa that my heart was not my own to give to my cousin Will; nor could I give Will any such reason. Poor Will! I could only say to him bluntly that I wouldn't have him."