Say only yes."
To the prayer in this letter, to the entreaties of her mother and Diana,
Charlotte yielded. She wondered why Mr. Sheldon avoided her, and asked
anxiously, on more than one occasion, why she did not see that gentleman.
"Is papa ill," she asked, "that he never comes to see how I am?"
"The doctors have forbidden many people in your room, dear."
"Yes, a few days ago, when I was so very ill; but now that I am better,
papa might come. I want to thank him for all his anxious care of me, and
to be sure that _he_ consents to this marriage."
"My darling, be assured the marriage is for the best," pleaded Diana.
And the marriage took place.
Charlotte's innocent soul was thus spared the pain of a revelation which
must have cast a dark shadow on the bright beginning of her wedded life.
Georgy pledged herself to keep the fatal secret from her daughter; and
Diana Paget rewarded her discretion by the most patient attention to her
piteous and prosy lamentations upon the iniquity of mankind in general,
and Philip Sheldon in particular.
Of that hideous secret of the past, lately revealed by Mr. Burkham, Mrs.
Sheldon had been told nothing. No good end could have been served by such
a revelation. The criminal law has its statute of limitations--unwritten,
but not the less existent. A crime which would have been difficult of
proof at the time of its commission must after the lapse of twelve years
have travelled beyond the pale of justice.
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