Harriet's lips curled, very slightly, but she said nothing.
"When are you going to see her again? It's hardly fair to let the visiting be always on her side, is it?"
"I shall go when I feel able. Perhaps to-morrow."
Julian presently went back to his book again. If he could have seen the look Harriet turned upon him when his face was averted, he would not have read so calmly.
That same evening Harriet herself was the subject of a short conversation between Ida and Waymark, as they sat together in the usual way.
"I fear there will never be anything like confidence between us," Ida was saying. "Do you know that I am sometimes almost afraid of her; sometimes she looks and speaks as if she hated me."
"She is a poor, ill-conditioned creature," Waymark replied, rather contemptuously.
"Can you explain," asked Ida, "how it was that Mr. Casti married her?"
"For my life, I can't! I half believe it was out of mere pity; I shouldn't wonder if the proposal came from her side. Casti might once have done something; but I'm afraid he never will now."
"And he is so very good to her. I pity him from my heart whenever I see them together. Often I have been so discouraged by her cold suspicious ways, that I half-thought I should have to give it up, but I felt it would be cruel to desert him so. I met him in the street the other night just as I was going to her, and he thanked me for what I was doing in a way that almost made me cry."