"Little woman," said my guardian, "I was thinking--that is, I have been thinking since I have been sitting here--that you ought to know of your own history all I know. It is very little. Next to nothing."
"Dear guardian," I replied, "when you spoke to me before on that subject--"
"But since then," he gravely interposed, anticipating what I meant to say, "I have reflected that your having anything to ask me, and my having anything to tell you, are different considerations, Esther. It is perhaps my duty to impart to you the little I know."
"If you think so, guardian, it is right."
"I think so," he returned very gently, and kindly, and very distinctly. "My dear, I think so now. If any real disadvantage can attach to your position in the mind of any man or woman worth a thought, it is right that you at least of all the world should not magnify it to yourself by having vague impressions of its nature."

"Little woman," said my guardian, "I have been thinking that you ought to know of your own history all I know. It is very little. Next to nothing."
"Dear guardian," I replied, "when you spoke to me before on that subject-"
"But since then," he gravely interposed, "I have reflected that it is perhaps my duty to tell you the little I know."
"If you think so, guardian, it is right."
"My dear, I think so now," he returned very gently and kindly. "If any real disadvantage can attach to your position, it is right that you at least should not magnify it to yourself by having vague impressions of its nature."
