"I was ignorant then of the family secret: I know better now." "Exactly.

The motive which you can now appreciate is the motive that leads us to the point.

The young lady herself (as I have heard from the elder Mr.Clare, to whom I am indebted for my knowledge of the circumstances in detail) confessed her attachment to her father, and innocently touched him to the quick by a chance reference to his own early life.

He had a long conversation with Mrs.Vanstone, at which they both agreed that Mr.Clare must be privately informed of the truth, before the attachment between the two young people was allowed to proceed further.

It was painful in the last degree, both to husband and wife, to be reduced to this alternative.