'But you resign yourself very cheerfully to the necessity,' she
said, looking at him with merely intellectual eyes.
'You had rather I lamented my fate in not being able to devote
myself to nobly unremunerative work?'
There was a note of irony here. It caused her a tremor, but she
held her position.
'That you never do so would make one think--but I won't speak
unkindly.'
'That I neither care for good work nor am capable of it,' Jasper
finished her sentence. 'I shouldn't have thought it would make
you think so.'
Instead of replying she turned her look towards the door. There
was a footstep on the stairs, but it passed.
'I thought it might be Dora,' she said.
'She won't be here for another couple of hours at least,' replied
Jasper with a slight smile.
'But you said--?'
'I sent her to Mrs Boston Wright's that I might have an
opportunity of talking to you. Will you forgive the stratagem?'
Marian resumed her former attitude, the faintest smile hovering
about her lips.
'I'm glad there's plenty of time,' he continued. 'I begin to
suspect that you have been misunderstanding me of late.
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