When Jordan returned to Medora, by a quality of our common nature which he would have been the first to deprecate, he was not entirely sorry to bring her unpleasant news. To himself he said that a trial of her patience would be good for her character, and so explained his own frame of mind; but the truth was different. He had heard something concerning Medora which annoyed him and made him anxious; and the result of his annoyance was that he imparted painful facts without any very great regret. It was true that they affected him as well as his future wife, but his nature was qualified to bear them far better than was hers. “I am a great deal hurt,” he began, as they sat together in their little parlour at the inn. “You were bound to be,” she answered. “And you might have been hurt in body as well as in mind. It’s something if he’s enough broken in to treat you properly.” “As to that, he did. I’ll come to him. But what’s hurt me, Medora, a long way worse than anything Mr. Dingle had to say has got to do with you.” “If you’ve been believing his lies—” “It ain’t so much his lies as yours. I’m not one to use hard words as a rule. But it’s your letter to him.” “Well, what about it?” “I’ve read it—that’s all.” She realised the significance of this and blushed hotly. “Why didn’t you send the letter I helped you to write?” he asked. “Because—because when you’re boiling with injustice and wicked injury—when I read it, I saw it was you and not me. He’d have known you wrote it, yet it was to be my letter; so I made it mine and told him the ugly truth about himself, which you’d been careful not to do. According to your letter, there was no reason why I should leave him at all that I could see. It was that nice and cool. But I was going to do things that you don’t do when you’re nice and cool, so I told him the truth straight out, as he deserved to hear it. It’s no good mincing your meaning with a man like him.” “You told me you’d sent our letter, however.” “I couldn’t when I came to read it. It was a silly letter.” “Well, I’m not one to go back to the past, because it’s generally a waste of time, Medora. It would have been honester if you’d told me the truth. Your letter was pretty hot, certainly.” “I hope he found it so.” “He did, and unfortunately he’s kept it. If he’d been wiser than he is, he’d have burned it; instead of that he’s letting it burn him, if you understand me. From the look of the letter, I should say he’d read it a great many times and the result is that he’s still in a very bad frame of mind.” “What frame of mind did you think he’d be in? We can’t all keep a hand on ourselves, like you.” “I hoped that time enough had passed over him to steady him. But I can’t honestly say it has. He made some curious remarks. I thought once he was going to let himself go and fly at me. But I kept my eye on him and never raised my voice. There’s plenty of good qualities in him.”