“He has misbehaved himself from the first.”

“I only was told that he loved you last Sunday. I never could judge behaviour. I — I — suppose he has.”

Feeling a little steadier, she put the book back and turned round to him. His face was drooping and swollen, but his eyes, though they were sunken deep, gleamed with a child's courage.

“Why, he has behaved abominably,” she said. “I am glad he is sorry. Do you know what he did?”

“Not 'abominably,'“ was the gentle correction. “He only tried when he should not have tried. You have all you want, Miss Honeychurch: you are going to marry the man you love. Do not go out of George's life saying he is abominable.”