"Trust to this life. That's a certainty, at any rate. Look after this life, and the next will look after itself."
"Funny you should say that. Dan's way's just different. He says, 'Look after the next life, and this one will look after itself'!"
"Nonsense—I'm right. And you know I'm right."
Sarah Jane felt in a mind to tell him that she was with child. As yet only her husband and her father knew it. She was about to do so, when he spoke again.
"I shall not live to be an old man," he said. "I know, as well as I know anything, that the longest half of my days are done. I thought the best of them were done too. But you've made life very interesting again and well worth living."
"You shouldn't say things like that, I'm sure, though I'm very glad you like me, Mr. Woodrow. What's amiss with you?"
"Nothing—everything."
"Your cough's better, so Mr. Prout says. I wish you'd find a wife, sir. That might be the best physic for you."
He did not answer immediately. The moon came from behind a cloud, and Sarah Jane strained her eyes into the distance.
"Dan ought to be coming," she said.