“Don’t begin those platitudes, Mattie, or you’ll make me angry. I don’t take anyone’s sorrows on myself. But you know⁠ ⁠… I feel as if⁠ ⁠…” He stopped short and stood hesitating, wondering how he would dare to broach the various troubled intimations that had been crossing his mind concerning her and Darnley. They moved on again, and his words still hung uncompleted in the air.

To help him out she tentatively repeated, “You feel as if?”

“Well⁠ ⁠… don’t be angry with me if I’m plunging into something too”⁠—he hesitated for a word⁠—“too frail to bear the weight of my clumsiness. But I’m not blind. I’ve seen that you and Darnley have something between you, some subtle understanding. I was glad to see it. You don’t know on what a long road it started my fancy! So now, when I see you looking ‘grim,’ as you call it, I can’t help thinking it must be because of⁠ ⁠… you know?⁠ ⁠… something gone wrong between you.”

Mattie gazed at him dumbfounded.