“But they have wives and daughters?”
“Yes; but official people's wives and daughters are always of the same pattern. They are only females of the species.”
“So that you were terribly bored?”
“Just so,—terribly bored.”
“What a boon from heaven it must have been then to have met the Sewells!” said she, with a well-put-on carelessness.
“Oh, your father mentioned the Sewells, did he?” asked Trafford, eagerly.
“I should think he did mention them! Why, they were the people he was so jealous of. He said that you were constantly with him till they came,—his companion, in fact,—and that he grieved heavily over your desertion of him.”
“There was nothing like desertion; besides,” added he, after a moment, “I never suspected he attached any value to my society.”
“Very modest, certainly; and probably, as the Sewells did attach this value, you gave it where it was fully appreciated.”
“I wish I had never met them,” muttered Trafford; and though the words were mumbled beneath his breath, she heard them.