Mr Quarmby and
his gossips naturally took the darkest view of things; they were
convinced that Alfred Yule could never recover his sight, and
they had a dolorous satisfaction in relating the story of
Marian's legacy. Of her relations with Jasper Milvain none of
these persons had heard; Yule had never spoken of that matter to
any one of his friends.
Jasper had to look in this morning for a hurried consultation of
certain encyclopaedic volumes, and it chanced that Marian was
standing before the shelves to which his business led him. He saw
her from a little distance, and paused; it seemed as if he would
turn back; for a moment he wore a look of doubt and worry. But
after all he proceeded. At the sound of his 'Good-morning,'
Marian started--she was standing with an open book in hand--and
looked up with a gleam of joy on her face.
'I wanted to see you to-day,' she said, subduing her voice to the
tone of ordinary conversation. 'I should have come this evening.'
'You wouldn't have found me at home. From five to seven I shall
be frantically busy, and then I have to rush off to dine with
some people.
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