You ought to know, and you shall know, what trials and what temptations may yet lie before you." He paused--leaving Mercy time to compose herself, if she wished to speak to him.
She felt that there was a necessity for her speaking to him.

He was plainly not aware that Lady Janet had already written to her to defer her promised explanation.

This circumstance was in itself a confirmation of the opinion which he had expressed.

She ought to mention it to him; she tried to mention it to him.

But she was not equal to the effort.
The few simple words in which he had touched on the tie that bound Lady Janet to her had wrung her heart.