ay to this she
had had his form before her eyes; but now, if she accepted Mr
Whittlestaff, it must be banished. No one, at any rate, knew of her
wound. She must tell him,--should she be moved at last to accept him.
It might be that he would reject her after such telling. If so, it
would be well. But, in that case, what would be her future? Would it
not be necessary that she should return to that idea of a governess
which had been so distasteful to her? "Mary, can you say that it
shall be so?" he asked quietly, after having remained silent for some
ten minutes.

Could it be that all her fate must be resolved in so short a time?
Since first the notion that Mr Whittlestaff had asked her to be his
wife had come upon her, she had thought of it day and night. But, as
is so usual with the world at large, she had thought altogether of
the past, and not of the future. The past was a valley of dreams,
which could easily be surveyed, whereas the future was a high
mountain which it would require much labour to climb. When we think
that we will make our calculations as to the future, it is so easy
to revel in our memories instead. Mary had, in truth, not thought of
her answer, though she had said to herself over and over again why it
should not be so.

"Have you no answer to give me?" he said.

"Oh, Mr Whittlestaff, you have so startled me!" This was hardly
true. He had not startled her, but had brought her to the necessity
of knowing her own mind.

"If you wish to think of it, you shall take your own time." Then it
was decided that a week should be accorded to her. And during that
week she passed much of her time in tears. And Mrs Baggett would
not leave her alone. To give Mrs Baggett her due, it must be
acknowledged that she acted as best she knew how for her master's
interest, without thinking of herself. "I shall go down to
Portsmouth. I'm not worth thinking of, I ain't. There's them at
Portsmouth as'll take care of me. You don't see why I should go. I
daresay not; but I am older than you, and I see what you don't see.
I've borne with you as a miss, because you've not been upsetting; but
still, when I've lived with him for all those years without anything
of the kind, it has set me hard sometimes. As married to him, I
wouldn't put up with you; so I tell you fairly. But that don't
signify. It ain't you as signifies or me as signifies. It's only him.
You have got to bring yourself to think of that. What's the meaning
of you