"About me? Will you tell me, Miss Churton?" returned Fan, a half-suppressed eagerness in her voice, as if this approach to confidence had fluttered her heart with pleasure.
"But if I tell you what was in my mind, Fan, I should have to finish by asking you a question; and perhaps you would not like to be asked."
"I think I can answer any question, Miss Churton, unless it is about--how we lived at home before Miss Starbrow took me to live with her. She wishes me not to speak of that, but to forget it."
Constance listened with softening eyes, wondering what that sorrowful past had been, which had left no trace on the sweet young face.
"I know that, Fan," she replied, "and should be very sorry to question you about such matters. It saddens me to think that your childhood was unhappy, and if I could help you to forget that period of your life I would gladly do so. The question I should have to ask would be about something recent. Can you not guess what it is?"
"No, Miss Churton--at least I don't think I can. Will you not tell me?"
"You know that my life here is not a happy one."
"When I first saw you I imagined that it would be different, that your coming would make me much better off. I had been wondering so much what you were like, knowing that we should be so much together. When I at length saw you it was with a shock of pleasure, for I saw more than I had dared to hope. A first impression is almost infallible, I think, and to this day I have never for a single moment doubted that the impression I received was a right one. But I was greatly mistaken when I imagined that in your friendship I should find compensation for the coldness of others; for very soon you put a distance between us, as you know, and it has lasted until now. That is what was passing through my mind a little while ago when I watched your face; and now, Fan, can you tell me why you took a dislike to me?"
"Oh, Miss Churton, I have never disliked you! I like you very, very much--I cannot say how much!" But even while this assurance sprang spontaneously from her lips, she remembered Mary's warning words, and her heart was secretly troubled, for that old danger which she had ceased to fear had now unexpectedly returned.