“Yes,” whispered Elinor: “she comes back quickly enough when it occurs to her that we are talking about her.”
Instead of simply asking why Constance should not behave in this very natural manner if she chose to, Marian was about to defend Constance warmly by denying all motive to her return, when that event took place and stopped the discussion. Marian and Nelly spent a considerable part of their lives in bandying their likes and dislikes under the impression that they were arguing important points of character and conduct.
They knew that Constance wanted to answer Marmaduke’s letter; so they alleged correspondence of their own, and left her to herself.
Lady Constance went to her brother’s study, where there was a comfortable writing-table. She began to write without hesitation, and her pen gabbled rapidly until she had covered two sheets of paper, when, instead of taking a fresh sheet, she wrote across the lines already written. After signing the letter, she read it through, and added two postscripts. Then she remembered something she had forgotten to say; but there was no more room on her two sheets, and she was reluctant to use a third, which might, in a letter to France, involve extra postage. Whilst she was hesitating her brother entered.
“Am I in your way?” she said. “I shall have done in a moment.”
“No, I am not going to write. By-the-bye, they tell me you had a letter from Marmaduke this morning. Has he anything particular to say?”
“Nothing very particular. He is in Paris.”
“Indeed? Are you writing to him?”
“Yes,” said Constance, irritated by his disparaging tone. “Why not?”
“Do as you please, of course. I am afraid he is a scamp.”