"It is too late to make any change now; three or four persons already
know."

"But," Mr. Strafford answered, "they are just the persons whom you can
trust, and whom, most likely you would have wished to tell, at any
rate."

"That is true. You think then that the truth may still be kept secret?"

"I see no reason why it should not. Doctor Hardy suspects it, but
medical men know how to keep family secrets, and as for whatever wonder
your illness may have excited in either Mrs. Elton or her husband, the
doctor himself can easily set that at rest by saying what I am afraid is
too true, that you are subject to fainting fits."

"You must give him a hint to do so then, please; and I know that the
others whom I have told will keep silence faithfully. But then I am not
yet quite convinced that silence ought to be kept."

"You still feel, however, that _not_ to keep it is in some degree to
sacrifice Lucia?"

"Yes. But you know that we have long ago weighed that matter. Heaven
knows that my heart is in the same scale as my darling's happiness, and
just for that very reason I am afraid to alter our decision."

"You are right in saying '_we_.' I helped you to decide once, and I
wish to change your decision now; for we yielded then to what we both
believed to be the claim of duty, arising out of Christian's
imprisonment and danger. Now, however, that he is quite safe, and that