When once the truth was out, it was out, and she could see more
and more every instant that it would be the only way. She accepted
therefore what had to come; she leaned back her head and closed her eyes
as her companion had done just before. She would have covered her face
with her hands but for the still greater shame. "Oh, you're a wonder, a
wonder," said Mrs. Gereth; "you're magnificent, and I was right, as soon
as I saw you, to pick you out and trust you!" Fleda closed her eyes
tighter at this last word, but her friend kept it up. "I never dreamed
of it till a while ago, when, after he had come and gone, we were face
to face. Then something stuck out of you; it strongly impressed me, and
I didn't know at first quite what to make of it. It was that you had
just been with him and that you were not natural. Not natural to _me_,"
she added with a smile. "I pricked up my ears, and all that this might
mean dawned upon me when you said you had asked nothing about Mona. It
put me on the scent, but I didn't show you, did I? I felt it was _in_
you, deep down, and that I must draw it out. Well, I _have_ drawn it,
and it's a blessing. Yesterday, when you shed tears at breakfast, I was
awfully puzzled. What has been the matter with you all the while? Why,
Fleda, it isn't a crime, don't you know that?" cried the delighted
woman. "When I was a girl I was always in love, and not always with such
nice people as Owen. I didn't behave as well as you; compared with you I
think I must have been horrid. But if you're proud and reserved, it's
your own affair; I'm proud too, though I'm not reserved--that's what
spoils it. I'm stupid, above all--that's what I am; so dense that I
really blush for it. However, no one but you could have deceived me. If
I trusted you, moreover, it was exactly to be cleverer than myself. You
must be so now more than ever!" Suddenly Fleda felt her hands grasped:
Mrs. Gereth had plumped down at her feet and was leaning on her knees.
"Save him--save him: you _can_!" she passionately pleaded. "How could
you _not_ like him, when he's such a dear? He _is_ a dear, darling;
there's no harm in my own boy! You can do what you will with him--you
know you can! What else does he give us all this time for? Get him away
from her; it's as if he besought you to, poor wretch! Don't abandon him
to such a fate, and I'll never abandon _you_. Think of him with that
creature, that future! If you'll take him I'll give up everything.
The