She sat forward, her arms crossed upon her lap.

Her eyes were still on the fire.
'Is it anything about Emma, Dick ?' she asked, after a disconcerting silence.
'Yes, it is.' 'Hadn't you better tell me at once?
It isn't at all nice to feel like this.' 'Well, I'll tell you.

I can't marry Emma; I'm going to marry someone else.' Alice was prepared, but the plain words caused her a moment's consternation.
'Oh, what ever will they all say, Dick ?' she exclaimed in a low voice.
'That's bad enough, to be sure, but I think more about Emma herself.

I feel ashamed of myself, and that's the plain truth.

Of course I shall always give her and her sisters all the money they want to live upon, but that isn't altogether a way out.