‘I hadn’t any such meaning just then,’ he said. ‘I meant quite simply that my bookish habits didn’t promise much for my success as a novelist.’
‘I see. But you didn’t think of it in that way at the time.’
He sighed.
‘No. At least—no.’
‘At least what?’
‘Well, no; on the whole I had good hope.’
Amy twisted her fingers together impatiently.
‘Edwin, let me tell you something. You are getting too fond of speaking in a discouraging way. Now, why should you do so? I don’t like it. It has one disagreeable effect on me, and that is, when people ask me about you, how you are getting on, I don’t quite know how to answer. They can’t help seeing that I am uneasy. I speak so differently from what I used to.’
‘Do you, really?’
‘Indeed I can’t help it. As I say, it’s very much your own fault.’