"If that's the programme, I must begin to think of packing up my trunks," she said with a laugh.
He did not join in her laugh, but his stern lips relaxed into a smile. "Lots of time to think about that," he told her, his eyes seeming to make a careful inspection of her. "Nutley would hardly be itself without you, Isobel."
She showed no sign of embarrassment under his scrutiny; she stood handsome and apparently serene in her composure.
"Oh, poor Nutley would soon recover from the blow," she said. "But I shall be sorry to go. You've been very kind to me."
"You've done your work very well. People who work well are well treated at Nutley; people who work badly—"
"Aren't exactly petted? No, they're not, Mr. Wellgood, I know."
"You'd always do your work, whatever it might be, well, so you'd always be well treated."
"At any rate you'll give me a good character?" she asked mockingly.
"Oh, I'll see that you get a good place," he answered her in the same tone, but with a hint of serious meaning in his eyes.
His plan was quite definite, his confidence in the issue of it absolute. But "one thing at a time" was among his maxims. He would like to see Vivien's affair settled before his own was undertaken. His idea was that his declaration and acceptance should follow on his daughter's engagement.