I'm very very
grateful for all their kindness. I'm very happy. It's all splendid
compared with what life used to be at home--but I fancy sometimes
that the aunts think I'm just going to settle down here for ever and
be like them--and I'm not--I'm afraid of Aunt Anne."
"Afraid of her?" said Mr. Magnus. "Ah, you mustn't be that."
"She has some plan in her head. I know she has--"
"No plan is set except for your good," said Mr. Magnus.
"I don't want any one to bother about my good," answered Maggie. "I
can look after that for myself."
This little conversation revealed Maggie to Mr. Magnus in an
entirely new light. He had thought her, until now, a good simple
girl, entirely ignorant of life and eager to be taught. The sudden
discovery of her independence distressed him. He left the house that
afternoon with many new points to consider.
Meanwhile Maggie had kept from him the true root of the matter. She
had said nothing of Martin Warlock. She had said nothing, even to
herself, about him, and yet the consciousness of her meeting with
him was always with her as a fire smoulders in the hold of a ship,
burning stealthily through the thick heart of the place, dim and
concealed, to burst suddenly, with a touch of the wind, into shining
flame.
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