Her past romance with Aylmer had naturally opened to her a source of
delight that she knew nothing of before.
Since she had seen him again she scarcely knew how she felt about it.
This day she was to see him again alone, because he wished it, and
because Dulcie Clay had begged her to gratify the wish.
Why was it, she asked herself, that the little nurse desired they should
be alone together? It was perfectly clear, to a woman with Edith's
penetration, that Dulcie was in love with Aylmer. Also, she was equally
sure that the girl believed Aylmer to be devoted to her, Edith. Then it
must be the purest unselfishness. Dulcie probably, she thought, loved
him with a kind of hopeless worship. She had seen him ill and weak, she
pitied him, she wanted him to be happy. In return for this generosity
Edith felt a generous kindness for her, a sympathy that she would never
have believed she could feel at seeing such a beautiful girl on those
rather intimate terms with Aylmer.
It must mean, simply, that Edith knew Aylmer cared for her still. A look
was enough to convince her that at least he still took a great and deep
interest in her. And she wanted to come to an understanding with him, or
she could have avoided a _tete-a-tete_.
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