“How can I, Mr. Wrayburn? How can I tell you what I should have done, if you had not been what you are?”

“If I had not been what you make me out to be,” he struck in, skilfully changing the form of words, “would you still have hated me?”

“O Mr. Wrayburn,” she replied appealingly, and weeping, “you know me better than to think I do!”

“If I had not been what you make me out to be, Lizzie, would you still have been indifferent to me?”

“O Mr. Wrayburn,” she answered as before, “you know me better than that too!”