"Will you kindly hear me out?" said Joyce. "I am not exaggerating when I say that I am so grateful for all the kindness which I have received in this house, that nothing would tempt me to leave it that did not give me the chance of being enabled to gratify the one wish of my life. The offer which has been made to me will, I think, do this. You have been good enough, Lady Caroline, to admit me to sufficient intimacy to talk of my private affairs, and when I mention the one wish of my life, you will know that I mean my marriage with Miss Ashurst."
"Certainly," said Lady Caroline, full of attention; "and the proposition which is under your consideration--or, rather, which I suppose you have accepted--will enable you to carry out this plan?"
"It will. There shall be no disguise with you. I am offered the post of Berlin correspondent to a London newspaper. The salary would not be considered large by you, or any one of your--you know what I mean," he said, in answer to an impatient movement of her head. "But it is sufficient to enable me to offer Marian the comforts which she ought to have, and to receive her mother to live with us."
"That will be very nice--very nice indeed," said Lady Caroline reflectively. "I'm sure I congratulate you very heartily, Mr. Joyce--very heartily. I think you said, when that man--what's his name?--Lord Hetherington's agent--said something about a boy whom you knew being killed--I think you said you had not heard from Miss Ashurst for some time."
"Yee; I did say so."
"Have you heard since?"
"No, I have not. But I can perfectly understand her silence, and you would if you knew her. Marian is one of those persons who, on occasions like this--of illness and death, I mean--are the mainstay of the place wherever they may happen to be, and have to take the whole burden of management on to their own shoulders."
"Of course--certainly--no doubt," said Lady Caroline. "And she has not written since the boy's death?"
"No, not since."
"It must have been a sad blow for the old father to bear. I don't know why I call him old, though. What age is he?"