She was sitting on a bench
beside the door with her hands before her face; and Tom was bending over
her.
'What is the matter?' cried Tom. 'Have I said anything to hurt you? Has
any one said anything to hurt you? Don't cry. Pray tell me what it is.
I cannot bear to see you so distressed. Mercy on us, I never was so
surprised and grieved in all my life!'
Mr Pecksniff kept his eye in the same place. He could have moved it now
for nothing short of a gimlet or a red-hot wire.
'I wouldn't have told you, Mr Pinch,' said Mary, 'if I could have helped
it; but your delusion is so absorbing, and it is so necessary that we
should be upon our guard; that you should not be compromised; and to
that end that you should know by whom I am beset; that no alternative
is left me. I came here purposely to tell you, but I think I should
have wanted courage if you had not chanced to lead me so directly to the
object of my coming.'
Tom gazed at her steadfastly, and seemed to say, 'What else?' But he
said not a word.
'That person whom you think the best of men,' said Mary, looking up, and
speaking with a quivering lip and flashing eye.
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