"That's hardly the way I should put it——"
"No, I don't suppose you would," interrupted Anna. "But it comes to that, doesn't it, Jeremy?"
"Of course it does," agreed Jeremy. "The fact is, writing about things is all rot. Go and do something—something practical."
Dyeing was doing something practical.
"Oh, yes, go into business, of course, and get rich by cheating. Trading's only another name for cheating."
"Well, you're right there for once," said Anna.
"Right?" cried Jeremy fiercely. "Well, then, why isn't it cheating when he" (he pointed scornfully at Alec) "charges a ha'penny for his beastly opinion about something?"
"Oh, it's not for me to say! You must ask Mr. Turner that."
In fact the discussions were of a most spirited order, since everybody was always quite wrong, and each in turn could be rapidly and ignominiously refuted, the other two uniting in a warm but transient alliance to that end.
This young and breezy society was good for Selford and for his wife too. It gave them something to think about, and did not leave each so much time to consider the unreasonableness of the other. Tiffs became less frequent, the false sentimentalism of their reconciliations was less in demand; and as they watched Anna's deftness and brightness, they began to ask whether they had been as proud of her as they ought to be.