"I certainly don't think you ought to marry him," remarked Patricia. "It wouldn't be fair. You must consider him a little. His feelings, I mean."
Amy stretched her legs out in front of her and nestled her head in the corner of the chair. She lighted one cigarette from another, and slowly took two or three puffs.
"You'll find that it's best not to consider other people," she said at length. "They only become a nuisance. I'm kind to Jack, and he's a nuisance. I've told him he can go; but he won't go unless I definitely say I won't marry him."
"He's very weak!" exclaimed Patricia, fiercely. "I'm ashamed of him."
"He's not at all weak. He wants something, and he's waiting for it, that's all."
"If you feel like that, surely it shows that you mean to marry him in the end."
"I wonder if I shall," murmured Amy. "Perhaps. Perhaps not...."
"I could give you a good shaking!" cried Patricia.
vi
To herself, she thought: "She thinks she's immoral, when she's only conceited. How silly!" And with that she had her first glimpse of Amy's soul. The rapid judgment of others which children possess was still a faculty of Patricia's. Her self-knowledge was rather less. This that Amy indicated was to her an unknown world; but after all she had preserved her own liberty through a number of episodes common to the period in which she lived. The superficial excitements of dancing partners were not unknown to her, and she had the modern girl's knowledge of things which of old were hidden. Only a quick intelligence had saved her in the past, and she had been made exceptionally confident by experience in her power to deal with whatever situations might arise in her own life. Amy, who looked upon Patricia as a babe, continued to brood upon her trials.