“It seems to me I am being very sensible now,” said Madge, “and you may certainly take all the credit of that, if you wish. I fully intend to do, at any rate, exactly what you suggest—to accept, that is to say, a man whom I both esteem and respect, and who is thoroughly suitable. For suitable let us say wealthy—because that is what we mean.”
Lady Ellington qualified this.
“I should not wish you to marry a cad, however wealthy,” she said.
Madge moved softly up and down the room, her dress whispering on the carpet before she replied.
“And it does not strike you that this is rather a cold-blooded proceeding?” she asked.
“It would if you were in love with somebody else. In which case I should not recommend you to marry Mr. Home. But as it is, it is the most sensible thing you can do. I would go further than that; I should say it was your duty.”
Again Madge walked up and down without replying at once.
“Ah, it is cold-blooded,” she said, “and I am doing it because I am cold-blooded.”
Then she stopped opposite her mother.
“Mother, when other girls fall in love, do they only feel like this?” she asked. “Is this all? Just to feel that for the rest of one’s life one will always have a very pleasant companion in the house, who, I am sure, will always deserve one’s liking and esteem?”