‘And he positively refused to carry out the former plan?’
‘Refused. Said it was useless.’
‘How could it be useless? There’s something so unaccountable in his behaviour.’
‘I don’t think it unaccountable,’ replied Amy. ‘It’s weak and selfish, that’s all. He takes the first miserable employment that offers rather than face the hard work of writing another book.’
She was quite aware that this did not truly represent her husband’s position. But an uneasiness of conscience impelled her to harsh speech.
‘But just fancy!’ exclaimed her mother. ‘What can he mean by asking you to go and live with him on twenty-five shillings a week? Upon my word. if his mind isn’t disordered he must have made a deliberate plan to get rid of you.’
Amy shook her head.
‘You mean,’ asked Mrs Yule, ‘that he really thinks it possible for all of you to be supported on those wages?’
The last word was chosen to express the utmost scorn.
‘He talked of earning fifty pounds a year by writing.’