Mrs.Dunn, as always, played the diplomat and mingled just the proper quantity of comprehending sympathy with the congratulations.
"I understand exactly how you feel, my dear," she said.

"You have a tender heart, and it pains you to hurt anyone's feelings, no matter how much they deserve to be hurt.

Every time I dismiss an incompetent or dishonest servant I feel that I have done wrong; sometimes I cry, actually shed tears, you know, and yet my reason tells me I am right.
You feel that you may have been too harsh with that guardian of yours.
You remember what you said to him and forget how hypocritically he behaved toward you.

I can't forgive him that.

I may forget how he misrepresented Malcolm and me to you--that I may even pardon, in time--but to deceive his own brother's children and introduce into their society a creature who had slandered and maligned their father--_that_ I never shall forget or forgive.