We know each other's hearts now.
It is my fault that we did not do so sooner.' They did understand each other at last, and the mother made no further attempt to engage her daughter's love for the man she would have chosen as her daughter's husband.
But still the worst was to come, as Mrs.Woodward well knew--and as Gertrude knew also; to come, too, on this very day.

Mrs.
Woodward, with a woman's keen perception, felt assured that Harry Norman, when he found himself at the Cottage, freed from the presence of the successful candidate, surrounded by the affectionate faces of all her circle, would melt at once and look to his love for consolation.

She understood the feelings of his heart as well as though she had read them in a book; and yet she could do nothing to save him from his fresh sorrows.

The cup was prepared for him, and it was necessary that he should drink it.
She could not tell him, could not tell even him, that her daughter had rejected him, when as yet he had made no offer.
And so Harry Norman hurried down to his fate.

When he reached the Cottage, Mrs.Woodward and Linda and Katie were in the drawing-room.
'Harry, my dear Harry,' said Mrs.Woodward, rushing to him, throwing her arms round him, and kissing him; 'we know it all, we understand it all--my fine, dear, good Harry.' Harry was melted in a moment, and in the softness of his mood kissed Katie too, and Linda also.