“No. I’m sorry if I frightened you. He has taken up some work that I’m afraid the Canon will disapprove of—on the staff of Hale’s paper.”
“What is that?” Flora asked, with grave, innocent eyes.
But Lucilla said at once: “That’s the new review that has been so very much criticized for its attitude towards the Church, isn’t it?”
He nodded.
“Oh!” Flora caught her breath, and her delicate face expressed the violent and instinctive recoil of her spirit.
Owen looked at Lucilla.
Her indignation took a line that was not altogether what he had expected.
“Well, surely Adrian need not have found a way of asserting his independence that must run counter to everything Father has ever taught!”
“He isn’t exactly doing it out of the spirit of opposition. Hale has taken a fancy to him, and it’s the first chance Adrian has had of regular, paid work. From a worldly point of view, he’d be a fool not to have accepted it.”
“A worldly point of view!” echoed Flora. “One doesn’t expect that in Father’s son, somehow.”