Nancy glanced at him to interpret the speech by his expression. He was smiling.
‘What good will it do you to have to support me? The selfishness I see in it is your wishing to take me from a comfortable home and make me poor.’
‘That can’t be helped. And, what’s more, you won’t think it a hardship.’
‘How do you know that? I have borne dreadful degradations rather than lose my money.’
‘That was for the child’s sake, not for your own.’
He said it softly and kindly, and for the first time Nancy met his eyes without defiance.
‘It was; I could always have earned my own living, somehow.’
Tarrant paused a moment, then spoke with look averted.
‘Is he well, and properly cared for?’
‘If he were not well and safe, I shouldn’t be away from him.’