“I am not sure. If I could persuade him—”
“My dear Amelia, have you ever once, in all your married life, succeeded in persuading your good husband that you were a better judge than himself on any single question?”
A flickering smile crossed the other’s face.
“Hubert is very decided, certainly,” she said—“very decided, when once he has made up his mind.”
Then the smile was quenched in sudden tears.
“No, that is it—never, never! If I ever could have touched him, it would have been for our boy—my boy!”
“Then you see the uselessness now. But I did not mean to distress you, Amelia. Take some eau-de-cologne—or, stay, an early cup of tea will do you good.”
“No, thanks.”
“Well, you must not be in such low spirits—positively you must not. I begin to think we have made a mistake in letting you come here; but you seemed to wish it. And after about twenty years—”
“Over twenty,” breathed the other.