‘I wonder you ever consented to the arrangement.’
‘I never meant to, but she seemed so utterly friendless, and she seemed to cling so to this place (a harbour of refuge it was to her, evidently), that I found it would be almost brutal to refuse.’
‘It was a charitable deed,’ says the Rector.
‘Not done in a spirit of charity, however. I assure you I regret it more and more every day of my life,’ says Wyndham, with a short laugh. ‘However, in for a penny, in for a pound, you know, and I had promised the Professor to look after her. I have now engaged a companion for her. I think you may remember Miss Manning. She was a governess of the Blakes’ some years ago. You used to know them.’
‘Manning? Oh, of course, of course,’ says the Rector—‘a most worthy creature. I never knew what became of her after Mary Blake went to India.’
‘Got another situation, and a most miserable one. Left it, and was found in direst poverty by the person I got to hunt her up. Her delight at my proposal to her to live with Miss Moore was unbounded. It will, at all events, be a blessing to get her out of that stuffy room I found her in. She looked so out of place in it. You know what a nice-looking woman she was, and so well got up always. But yesterday ... I advanced her a little of her salary at once—to—to get anything she might want, you know; and I expect that next week she will come to the Cottage.’
The Rector has heard this rather halting recital straight through without comment. Now he lifts his eyes.
‘You are a good fellow, Wyndham,’ says he slowly.
‘For heaven’s sake, Mr. Barry, not that,’ says Wyndham impatiently. ‘I expect I’m about the most grudging devil on earth. And if you think I enjoy helping this girl, or Miss Manning, or anyone else, you make a mistake. What I really want is to be left alone, to run my life on my own rails without the worry of being crossed or stopped by passengers, or goods, or extras.’
‘Ah, we can none of us hope for that,’ says the Rector. ‘The most selfish of us have to live, not only for ourselves, but for others. You spoke of having seen Miss Manning yesterday. Have you—told the young lady in there of her coming?’