"This is very dull for you, Miss Capel," he began.
"Very sad for me," said Margaret.
"You are not afraid of being with Miss Conway?"
"Not at all; I never was timid about infection."
"I think—(a long pause)—I think you are an angel, Miss Capel."
"Do you, Mr. Humphries," said Margaret unconsciously; her whole mind occupied with Harriet's illness, and the unkind indifference displayed by Mr. Gage.
For a little while Mr. Humphries had to endure a paroxysm of bashfulness; when he recovered, the first words he uttered were: "I like you very much!"
Margaret, who was fitting a steel pen into a mother of pearl handle, replied: "you are very good, Mr. Humphries. Is not this a pretty pen?"
He took it in his clumsy way, and then began to laugh.
"I—I meant," he began; but here his courage failed him, and he gave her back the pen, looking suspiciously at Mr. Singleton and George Gage, who were conversing in whispers at the other end of the room.