I should have liked it better if Marian
had had the ten thousand and he the five, but it's an excellent
joke. Perhaps the next thing will be that he'll refuse to have
anything to do with his wife's money; that would be just like
him.' After amusing himself with this subject for a few minutes
more, he turned to the window and stood there in silence.
'Are you going to have tea with us?' Dora inquired.
He did not seem to hear her. On a repetition of the inquiry, he
answered absently:
'Yes, I may as well. Then I can go home and get to work.'
During the remainder of his stay he talked very little, and as
Maud also was in an abstracted mood, tea passed almost in
silence. On the point of departing he asked:
'When is Marian likely to come here again?'
'I haven't the least idea,' answered Dora.
He nodded, and went his way.
It was necessary for him to work at a magazine article which he
had begun this morning, and on reaching home he spread out his
papers in the usual businesslike fashion. The subject out of
which he was manufacturing 'copy' had its difficulties, and was
not altogether congenial to him; this morning he had laboured
with unwonted effort to produce about a page of manuscript, and
now that he tried to resume the task his thoughts would not
centre upon it.
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