occasion—for I thought perhaps you would not wish to speak to me."
"That was a very unkind thought, Susan," said the young man.
"It would have been like the world, William," answered Susan; "but though you and I must keep company no longer, it will always be a pleasure to me to remember that you did not forsake me in my trouble."
"I have no intention of forsaking you, Susan," answered William; "I don't know whether Andrew's guilty or whether he is not—as I said before, there is no reason why you should suffer for other peoples' faults."
"But I must suffer for them, William," answered Susan. "When one member of a poor family does a bad act, he takes the bread out of the mouths of the others."
"Then you'll have the more need of friends," replied William.
"Need enough," returned Susan; "but that's not the question now. What I wish to say is—and there's no time like the present to say it in—that we must keep company no longer. I'll bring no honest man to shame; and unless I live to see the day that I can hold up my head again, I'll live and die Susan Hopley."
