"Have you--ever--had a child, Mrs.
Horncastle ?" he asked gently and hesitatingly.

He had a vague recollection that she passed for a widow, and in his simple eyes all women were virgins or married saints.
"No," she said abruptly.

Then she added with a laugh, "Or perhaps I should not admire them so much.

I suppose it's the same feeling bachelors have for other people's wives.

But I know you're dying to take that boy from me.