"You may know about cows and horses," said Mrs. Bolitho; "you're
wrong about humans." The way that she put it was that Martin cared
for Maggie but "couldn't get it out." "He doesn't want her to know
it," she said.
"Why shouldn't he?" asked James.
"Now you're asking," said Mrs. Bolitho.
"Nice kind of courtin' that be," said James; "good thing you was a
bit different, missus. Lovin' a lass and not speaking--shouldn't
like!"
Mrs. Bolitho's heart grew very tender towards Maggie. Married or
not, the child was in a "fiery passion of love." Nor was it a
selfish passion, neither--wanted very little for herself, but only
for him to get well. There was true romance here. Maggie, however,
gave away no secrets. She had many talks with Mr. Bolitho: about the
village, about the new parson, about Mrs. Bolitho's son, Jacob, now
in London engineering, and the apple of her eye,--about many things
but never about herself, the past history nor her feeling for
Martin.
The girl never "let on" that she was suffering, and yet "suffering
she must be." You could see that she was just holding herself
"tight" like a wire.
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