Dickens she had unwillingly conceded to him, since Dickens made no appeal to her personally, but she was more apt to dwell upon his liking for the "Pickwick Papers" and "Nicholas Nickleby" than for "Great Expectations" or "David Copperfield."
At her enquiry Julian closed his book.
"Jorrocks, of course," he assented expressionlessly, putting down Huysman's "En Route," and not troubling to display the title.
"Did Mr. Fuller tell you how many of my staff meant to come this afternoon?"
"No. I don't suppose, in any case, that they would have told him."
"That's so curious to me, Julian. To work together all the week, and yet know nothing of one another's real life—nothing of what goes on in the free time, or the one holiday of the week."
"What generally goes on, I imagine, is that the girls have their hair waved on Saturday afternoons, stay in bed on Sunday mornings, and go out with their young men on Sunday evenings. I doubt if the procedure ever varies."
"And that with God's own blue sea less than a mile away!" ejaculated Lady Rossiter under her breath, but nevertheless quite audibly.
"Cooper generally goes for a walk on Saturday afternoon," said Sir Julian consolingly; "and Fuller, and I imagine a good many of the other fellows as well, to a football or cricket match."
"Can you wonder that we long to win them to clearer, wider ideals?" his wife enquired.