‘I will try,’ cries she impulsively. She holds out to him her hand, and he takes it. ‘I will indeed. You have been so good to me, that I ought to do something for you. But all the same’—shaking her head—‘I know you are vexed with me about this.’
‘For your sake only. This abominable visit of my aunt’s, for example——’
‘Yes; about the girl you——’ She stops and withdraws her hand.
‘I thought I had explained that,’ says he, with a laugh. ‘But what troubles me is the thought that you may be again annoyed in this way. Not by her; I shall see about that’—with force. ‘But there may be others. And of course your welfare is’—he checks himself—‘of some consequence to me.’
‘Is it?’ She has grown cold too. ‘Your aunt’s welfare must be something to you as well.’
‘Do you mean by that that you don’t think I am on your side?’
She lifts her heavy lids and looks at him.
‘You told me that my affairs were nothing to you—that they did not concern you in the smallest degree.’
‘Was that—some time ago?’
‘Yes. Almost at first.’