Have you altered your mind, since you wrote to me?' I
asked. 'To be sure I have,' she said. 'When I wrote to you I forgot the
difference between your age and mine. Nothing that _we_ do will be taken
seriously. I am afraid of their laughing at me, Amelius; but I am afraid
of nothing else.' I did my best to undeceive her. I told her plainly
that people unequally matched in years--women older than men, as well as
men older than women--were not uncommonly married among us. The council
only looked to their being well suited in other ways, and declined to
trouble itself about the question of age. I don't think I produced much
effect; she seemed, for once in her life, poor thing, to be too happy to
look beyond the passing moment. Besides, there was the birthday festival
to keep her mind from dwelling on doubts and fears that were not
agreeable to her. And the next day there was another event to occupy
our attention--the arrival of the lawyer's letter from London, with the
announcement of my inheritance on coming of age. It was settled, as you
know, that I was to go out into the world, and to judge for myself; but
the date of my departure was not fixed. Two days later, the storm that
had been gathering for weeks past burst on us--we were cited to appear
before the council to answer for an infraction of the Rules. Everything
that I have confessed to you, and some things besides that I have kept
to myself, lay formally inscribed on a sheet of paper placed on the
council table--and pinned to the sheet of paper was Mellicent's letter
to me, found in my room. I took the whole blame on myself, and insisted
on being confronted with the unknown person who had informed against
us. The council met this by a question:--'Is the information, in any
particular, false?' Neither of us could deny that it was, in every
particular, true. Hearing this, the council decided that there was no
need, on our own showing, to confront us with the informer. From that
day to this, I have never known who the spy was. Neither Mellicent nor
I had an enemy in the Community. The girls who had seen us on the lake,
and some other members who had met us together, only gave their evidence
on compulsion--and even then they prevaricated, they were so fond of us
and so sorry for us. After waiting a day, the governing body pronounced
their judgment. Their duty was prescribed to them by the Rules. We were
sentenced to six months' absence from the Community; to return or not