“I think she knew him,” Virginia answered simply, and then, ignoring the two men, she went over to Mrs. Carter. “You were good to come,” she said softly. “Oh, Virginia!” Mrs. Carter dabbed at her eyes, “I feel as if I’d been guilty.” She lowered her voice and added in a whisper: “What did William say?” Virginia smiled, a beautiful light in her eyes. “I think he’s forgiven her already,” she replied sweetly. “I’ve been with her for hours and hours, and I’m fond of her. I can’t help it. She’s like a child, Mrs. Carter, and she loves William. Besides, she’s suffered terribly, and don’t you think suffering expiates everything?” Mrs. Carter pressed her handkerchief against her lips. For a moment she was silent, aware of her husband’s eyes and Colonel Denbigh’s. Involuntarily they looked at her. She wavered a little, and then she spoke, faint-heartedly but sincerely. “Johnson, I think we ought to go up-stairs, too. We ought to tell William how we feel--at least, I should. I’m ready to do anything that’s right.” Mr. Carter nodded his head slowly. “I’ve just told the colonel that we’re not really monsters,” he replied bluntly; “but we’ve had rather a rough experience, take it all in all. There’s Leigh, nothing but a boy, and he’s killed a man. It’s not a nice thing to think about. He told me one night how he felt. It haunts him. Besides, I’ve seen William falling down on his work. The whole racket got on our nerves. I reckon we were hard on her. William used to call her a wild fawn. Maybe, if we’d met her from the first in the right way, she’d have tamed down.” Colonel Denbigh pulled hard at his mustache. “Give her a little love, Carter, and trust in the Lord,” he advised gently. It was Virginia, however, who solved the problem. “William must take her away,” she said decidedly. “She’s used to big cities, to life and light and change, and she couldn’t endure us here. It will be a long time before she can. If he takes her away they’ll understand each other, Mrs. Carter, and then the rest of it will solve itself.” Mrs. Carter assented to this. It came to her in the nature of manna from heaven. To mend William’s marriage and to escape the responsibility of Fanchon would be almost too good to be true. “I reckon that’s just it, Jinny,” she said weakly. “It’s all wrong for two young people to start in together with another family. We’re right set in our ways, too. I think you’re right. Don’t you, papa?” Mr. Carter nodded again. There was a little pause, broken only by the distant sound of Daniel’s march on the piazza. “Isn’t that boy coming in here to sit down and drink some tea?” Mr. Carter demanded suddenly and sharply, addressing space. “I’ll call him,” said Virginia. But as she spoke they heard a step on the stairs and William’s voice. “Mother, will you come up and see--my wife?”