repeated Esme slowly . `` And have you thought that all these years , Selwyn Grant ? '' `` Yes , I have . Is it any wonder ? You were engaged to Tom when I went away , Jenny told me you were . And a year later Bertha wrote me a letter in which she made some reference to Tom 's marriage . She did n't say to whom , but had n't I the right to suppose it was to you ? '' `` Oh ! '' The word was partly a sigh and partly a little cry of long-concealed , long-denied pain . `` It 's been all a funny misunderstanding . Tom and I were engaged once -- a boy-and-girl affair in the beginning . Then we both found out that we had made a mistake -- that what we had thought was love was merely the affection of good comrades . We broke our engagement shortly before you went away . All the older girls knew it was broken but I suppose nobody mentioned the matter to Jen . She was such a child , we never thought about her . And you 've thought I was Tom 's wife all this time ? It 's -- funny . '' `` Funny . You mean tragic ! Look here , Esme , I 'm not going to risk any more misunderstanding .
There 's nothing for it but plain talk when matters get XXXXX such a state as this .
Jen Jenny Tom about before in of that to years