“Then I’m very glad for you, Mrs. Kellynch. But can’t you imagine—you’re so pretty and charming and good-tempered and clever. I’m none of all these things. I’m not pretty, and I’m very bad-tempered and terribly jealous by nature and not clever.”
“You are his wife and he chose you. And he is a charming, pleasant man. You ought to be very happy together.”
“To tell the truth—I don’t mind what I tell you—I feel you’re kind and good and sincere—I have always had a horrible feeling that he married me—because—because he was hard up. And I had money! And yet——”
“Oh, Mrs. Hillier, don’t talk nonsense! It’s dreadful of you to say so. You ought to be very glad to be able to have everything you want, without having to consider for your children. It’s a great thing, I assure you, to have no money troubles. It’s another very big reason for you and Nigel to be happy. You don’t know what it is. It’s agony! I do, because before I was married I was one of a very large family, and my father was a very popular preacher and all that, but it was a terrible struggle. To send the boys to public schools and Oxford, the girls had to be really dreadfully pinched! And always worries about bills! I was brought up in that atmosphere, and I know that to be entirely free from it is a most enormous relief and comfort. You will probably never know how fortunate you are.”
“You are right. Of course Nigel is not the man to endure money troubles well.”
“Exactly. Well, now, can’t you see that you’ve every possible chance of happiness together?”
“May I call you Bertha?” answered Mary. “You’ve been a real angel to me, I might have expected you to refuse to see me, or at least to be cold and unkind—and instead you’re as sorry as you can be for me and want to see me happy! You are sweet.”
“Of course I’d like to see you happy,” said Bertha. “You understand now that I also care for my husband? You’re not the only one in the world, though I admit we’re rather exceptions nowadays!”
“Yes; and I thought because you were so pretty and sweet that you must be a flirt—at the very least.”
“I don’t say I’m not, all the same. But I would never wish to interfere with other people’s happiness.”