I cannot keep any of my thoughts from you.' 'Tell me,' he murmured, standing by her.
She related the substance of the conversation she had overheard, always keeping her eyes on him.
'Is it true ?' 'It is true, Emily.' Between him and her there could be no paltry embarrassments.

A direct question touching both so deeply could be answered only in one way.

If Emily had suffered from a brief distrust, his look and voice, sorrowful but frank as though he faced Omniscience, restored her courage at once.
There might be grief henceforth, but it was shared between them.
He spoke on and made all plain.

Then at the last: 'I felt it to be almost impossible that you should net some day know.

I could not tell you, perhaps on her account as much as on my own.