He checked himself awkwardly. Nancy insisted on the completion of his thought.
‘That of all the women I know, you have the most sense.’
‘I had rather hear you say that than have a great fortune.’ She blushed with joy. ‘Perhaps you will love me some day, as I wish to be loved.’
‘How?’
‘I’ll tell you another time. If it weren’t for my father’s illness, I think I could go home feeling almost happy. But how am I to know what you are doing?’
‘What do you wish me to do?’
‘Just tell me how you live. What shall you do now, when I’m gone?’
‘Sit disconsolate,’—he came nearer—‘thinking you were just a little unkind.’
‘No, don’t say that.’ Nancy was flurried. ‘I have told you the real reason. Our housekeeper says that father was disappointed and angry because I put off my return from Teignmouth. He spoke to me very coldly, and I have hardly seen him since. He won’t let me wait upon him; and I have thought, since I know how ill he really is, that I must seem heartless. I will come for longer next time.’
To make amends for the reproach he had uttered in spite of himself, Tarrant began to relate in full the events of his ordinary day.