"Oh," she exclaimed with some chagrin. "I see, it's Judith makes you do this. Of course, if you want to!"
"Now," he said with a rough tolerance, "think it over. She's right, you'll find. A city house down here won't fit. The girl has lived abroad, remember; she ought to know."
Mrs. Harmon had reflected and acquiesced. Common sense was fundamental to both her and Ellis, and combined with more frankness than was usual in the Judge's circle kept them on good terms. Ellis had laid his hand on her shoulder while he urged her to consider; she had not resented the sign of their understanding.
"Well," she said, "Judith knows a good deal, and perhaps I am wrong." Right or wrong, she did not intend that she and Ellis should fall out. Life was dull for her sometimes; she liked to have him dropping in. And then those trinkets. She turned the bracelet on her wrist.
"This is very attractive," she said.
He grunted indifferently.
"It's odd," she said further, "and bracelets aren't worn very much. It attracts attention."
"That's what Price expected," he responded. She never thanked him for his gifts more than by such commendations; he did not expect more.
But she was on each occasion interested to know how he got on with Judith. He knew she kept account of his visits there. "Go oftener," she urged him once. He was wiser, and refused. "You don't follow it up very quickly," she repeatedly said, but "all in good time" was the most she could get out of him.
"What do you talk about with her?" she asked.