The request was supported by Whelpdale, and Jasper needed no pressing. He seated himself so that the lamplight fell upon the pages, and read the article through. It was an excellent piece of writing (see The Wayside, June 1884), and in places touched with true emotion. Any intelligent reader would divine that the author had been personally acquainted with the man of whom he wrote, though the fact was nowhere stated. The praise was not exaggerated, yet all the best points of Reardon’s work were admirably brought out. One who knew Jasper might reasonably have doubted, before reading this, whether he was capable of so worthily appreciating the nobler man.
‘I never understood Reardon so well before,’ declared Whelpdale, at the close. ‘This is a good thing well done. It’s something to be proud of, Miss Dora.’
‘Yes, I feel that it is,’ she replied.
‘Mrs Reardon ought to be very grateful to you, Milvain. By-the-by, do you ever see her?’
‘I have met her only once since his death—by chance.’
‘Of course she will marry again. I wonder who’ll be the fortunate man?’
‘Fortunate, do you think?’ asked Dora quietly, without looking at him.
‘Oh, I spoke rather cynically, I’m afraid,’ Whelpdale hastened to reply. ‘I was thinking of her money. Indeed, I knew Mrs Reardon only very slightly.’
‘I don’t think you need regret it,’ Dora remarked.
‘Oh, well, come, come!’ put in her brother. ‘We know very well that there was little enough blame on her side.’