‘No.’
Amy examined his face as he spoke.
‘Her image is very faint before me,’ Jasper pursued, ‘and soon I shall scarcely be able to recall it. Yes, you are right; she nearly ruined me. And in more senses than one. Poverty and struggle, under such circumstances, would have made me a detestable creature. As it is, I am not such a bad fellow, Amy.’
She laughed, and caressed his cheek.
‘No, I am far from a bad fellow. I feel kindly to everyone who deserves it. I like to be generous, in word and deed. Trust me, there’s many a man who would like to be generous, but is made despicably mean by necessity. What a true sentence that is of Landor’s: “It has been repeated often enough that vice leads to misery; will no man declare that misery leads to vice?” I have much of the weakness that might become viciousness, but I am now far from the possibility of being vicious. Of course there are men, like Fadge, who seem only to grow meaner the more prosperous they are; but these are exceptions. Happiness is the nurse of virtue.’
‘And independence the root of happiness.’
‘True. “The glorious privilege of being independent”—yes, Burns understood the matter. Go to the piano, dear, and play me something. If I don’t mind, I shall fall into Whelpdale’s vein, and talk about my “blessedness”. Ha! isn’t the world a glorious place?’
‘For rich people.’
‘Yes, for rich people. How I pity the poor devils!—Play anything. Better still if you will sing, my nightingale!’
So Amy first played and then sang, and Jasper lay back in dreamy bliss.