But she said it to Maggie more than to any other person. When she
had been in the house a few days she said to her brother:
"Paul, Maggie's much younger than I had supposed."
"Oh, do you think so?" said Paul.
"Yes, I do. She knows nothing about anything. She's been nowhere.
She's seen nobody . . . Poor child."
It was the "poor child" position that she now, during these first
weeks, adopted. She was very, very kind to Maggie. As she explained
to Mrs. Maxse, she really was very fond of her--she was a GOOD girl.
At the same time . . . Well! . . . Mrs. Maxse would understand that
Paul can hardly have known what he was marrying. Ignorance!
Carelessness! Strange ideas! Some one from the centre of Africa
would have known more . . . and so on. Nevertheless, she was a GOOD
girl . . . Only she needed guidance. Fancy, she had taken quite a
fancy to poor Mr. Toms! Proposed to call on his sister. Well, one
couldn't help that. Miss Toms was a regular communicant . . .
Nevertheless . . . she didn't realise, that was it. Of course, she
had known all kinds of queer people in London. Paul and Grace had
rescued her.
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