Indeed, it would only serve to make her feel worse. But it had been an involuntary reaction, as a myriad of thoughts flitted through her mind. This was Hetty, the very moral young woman who had lost her fiancé because she had refused to give way to his too amorous advances. But now…this was dreadful! ‘I know,’ Hetty sniffed through her sobs. ‘You must be shocked and thoroughly ashamed of me, behaving like that. And I know everybody else will be too.’‘No!’ Maddy shook her head emphatically. ‘Of course I’m not shocked or ashamed.’ And that was the truth. Maddy was just amazed that Hetty could have allowed this to happen, and she felt worried for her, too, as the awful truth began to dawn on her. ‘I’m surprised, perhaps. But then…maybe I’m not. I’ve just told you that I didn’t trust Samuel. This just proves that I was right.’Hetty gave a weak smile. She had stopped sobbing now; it was not really characteristic of her to give way to tears and to show her feelings so openly.
