"But you will stay in London, Mr. Finn?"
"I think not. After all that has come and gone I should not be happy here, and I should make my way easier and on cheaper terms in Dublin. My present idea is that I shall endeavour to make a practice over in my own country. It will be hard work beginning at the bottom;—will it not?"
"And so unnecessary."
"Ah, Lady Laura,—if it only could be avoided! But it is of no use going through all that again."
"How much we would both of us avoid if we could only have another chance!" said Lady Laura. "If I could only be as I was before I persuaded myself to marry a man whom I never loved, what a paradise the earth would be to me! With me all regrets are too late."
"And with me as much so."
"No, Mr. Finn. Even should you resign your office, there is no reason why you should give up your seat."
"Simply that I have no income to maintain me in London."
She was silent for a few moments, during which she changed her seat so as to come nearer to him, placing herself on a corner of a sofa close to the chair on which he was seated. "I wonder whether I may speak to you plainly," she said.
"Indeed you may."