'Oh, very well,' said James, sitting down to his writing, as if he had done with her; 'I understand.'
'Dear James! O tell me you are not angry with me! Tell me you think I am right!' cried Clara, alarmed by his manner.
'Quite right in one point of view,' he said, with acrimony.
'James,' said Louis, very low, but so as to make them both start, 'that is not the way to treat your sister!'
'We will renew the discussion another time, if you wish it, Clara,' said James.
'No,' said Clara, 'I wish Louis to be here. He will judge for me,' and she spoke clearly, her face colouring. 'It was grandmamma's great wish that I should love my uncle. She used to beg me to be patient with him, and rejoiced to see us together. She often said he must not be left with no one to make a home for him, and to go out to Lima again.'
'Did she ever desire you to remain here?'
'No,' said Clara, 'she never did; but I am convinced that if she had known how soon she was to leave us, she would have done so. I feel as much bound as if she had. I have heard her call him my charge. And not only so, but my uncle has never varied in his kindness to me, and when he worked all his life for grandmamma, and my father, it would be wicked and cruel in me—if he does care for me—to forsake him, now he has lost them all, and is growing old.'
'You need not scruple on that score,' said James. 'He has attained his object, and made the most of it. He is free now, and he will soon find a Rosita, if his mines are not sufficient for him.'
'James, you should not say wrong things,' said Clara.