“Yes.”
“Mrs. Bruce Page tells me your brother is making you an allowance. I am glad to hear that, and I hope you will heartily accept his conditions.”
“I shall try to read, but there’s small chance of it ever coming to anything. I’m one of those men who inevitably go to the dogs. A longer or shorter time, but the dogs eventually.”
“That is in your own hands. Shall I tell you what I think? Just one piece of my mind which perhaps you will rate cheaply enough. I think that a man who respects himself will make his own standing in life, and won’t be willing to be lifted on to smooth ground by any one, least of all by a woman’s weak hands. And now, good night to you.”
She left him and entered the house by the front door.
After breakfast next morning, Ada was in the library, walking from window to window, watching the course of clouds which threatened rain, at a loss, it seemed, how to employ herself. She was surprised by Mrs. Clarendon’s entrance.
“You haven’t settled to work yet?” Isabel said, looking at her rather timidly.
Ada merely shook her head and came towards the table. Mrs. Clarendon took up a book and glanced at it.
“What are you busy with now?” she asked lightly.
“Nothing in particular. I’ve just finished a novel that interests me.”