“Nonsense! Ask her.”
“But Kate, a girl won't marry against her will!”
“I don't believe it is against her will.”
“Kate! Honestly?”
“Honestly! I've watched her.”
“Then I WILL speak,” cried the man, his face alight, “if—if you think anything I can say would—help. There is nothing—nothing in all this world that I so desire, Kate, as to have that little girl back home. And of course that would do it. She'd live there, you know.”
“Why, of—course,” murmured Kate, with a puzzled frown. There was something in this last remark of William's that she did not quite understand. Surely he could not suppose that she had any idea that after he had married Billy they would go to live anywhere else;—she thought. For a moment she considered the matter vaguely; then she turned her attention to something else. She was the more ready to do this because she believed that she had said enough for the present: it was well to sow seeds, but it was also well to let them have a chance to grow, she told herself.
Mrs. Hartwell's next move was to speak to Billy, and she was careful to do this at once, so that she might pave the way for William.
She began her conversation with an ingratiating smile and the words:
“Well, Billy, I've been doing a little detective work on my own account.”