“I don’t know. Some connection of Mr. Failing’s, I think.”
“Does he live here?”
“He used to be at school or something. He seems to have grown into a tiresome person.”
“I suppose that Mrs. Failing has adopted him.”
“I suppose so. I believe that she has been quite kind. I do hope she’ll be kind to you this morning. I hate leaving you with her.”
“Why, you say she likes me.”
“Yes, but that wouldn’t prevent—you see she doesn’t mind what she says or what she repeats if it amuses her. If she thought it really funny, for instance, to break off our engagement, she’d try.”
“Dear boy, what a frightful remark! But it would be funnier for us to see her trying. Whatever could she do?”
He kissed the hands that were still busy with the fastenings. “Nothing. I can’t see one thing. We simply lie open to each other, you and I. There isn’t one new corner in either of us that she could reveal. It’s only that I always have in this house the most awful feeling of insecurity.”
“Why?”