Accident might one day put the true
Grace in possession of the proofs that she needed, and might
reveal the false Grace to him in the identity that was her own.
What would he think of her then? Could she make him tell her
without betraying herself? She determined to try.
"Children are notoriously insatiable if you once answer their
questions, and women are nearly as bad," she said, when Julian
returned to her. "Will your patience hold out if I go back for
the third time to the person whom we have been speaking of?"
"Try me," he answered, with a smile.
"Suppose you had _not_ taken your merciful view of her?"
"Yes?"
"Suppose you believed that she was wickedly bent on deceiving
others for a purpose of her own--would you not shrink from such a
woman in horror and disgust?"
"God forbid that I should shrink from any human creature!" he
answered, earnestly. "Who among us has a right to do that?"
She hardly dared trust herself to believe him. "You would still
pity her?" she persisted, "and still feel for her?"
"With all my heart."
"Oh, how good you are!"
He held up his hand in warning. The tones of his voice deepened,
the luster of his eyes brightened.
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