“This is very kind of you; I am most grateful. We shall not be a burden beyond to-morrow.”
“What do you mean to do?”
“To join my husband, as I told you awhile ago. Sir Brook Fossbrooke made that the condition of his assisting us.”
“What does he call assisting you?”
“Supporting us,—feeding, housing, clothing us; we shall have nothing but what he will give us.”
“That is very generous, indeed.”
“Yes; it is generous,—more generous than you dream of, for we did not always treat him very well; but that also is a bygone, and I 'll not return to it.”
“Come down and have some dinner,—it has been on the table this half-hour; it will be nigh cold by this.”
“Yes; I am quite ready. I'd like to eat, too, if I could. What a great resource it is to men in their dark hours that they can drink and smoke! I think I could do both to-day if I thought they would help me to a little insensibility.”