Lizzie put her hands before her face for a moment before replying: “The words are always in my ears, and the blow he struck upon a stone wall as he said them is always before my eyes. I have tried hard to think it not worth remembering, but I cannot make so little of it. His hand was trickling down with blood as he said to me, ‘Then I hope that I may never kill him!’ ”

Rather startled, Bella made and clasped a girdle of her arms round Lizzie’s waist, and then asked quietly, in a soft voice, as they both looked at the fire:

“Kill him! Is this man so jealous, then?”

“Of a gentleman,” said Lizzie. “⁠—I hardly know how to tell you⁠—of a gentleman far above me and my way of life, who broke father’s death to me, and has shown an interest in me since.”

“Does he love you?”

Lizzie shook her head.

“Does he admire you?”