her to give pain in such opposite quarters. But she wished that, instead of reproaches, however tender, he would give her help; he was certainly wise enough, and clever enough, to invent some issue from their troubles. She expressed this belief, and Morris received the assurance as if he thought it natural; but he interrogated, at first—as was natural too—rather than committed himself to marking out a course.
"You should not have made me wait so long," he said. "I don't know how I have been living; every hour seemed like years. You should have decided sooner."
"Decided?" Catherine asked.
"Decided whether you would keep me or give me up."
"Oh, Morris," she cried, with a long tender murmur, "I never thought of giving you up!"
"What, then, were you waiting for?" The young man was ardently logical.
"I thought my father might—might
" and she hesitated."Might see how unhappy you were?"
"Oh, no! But that he might look at it differently."