'Yes, yes,' replied Lady Georgina, hastily, in a tone that implied, 'Of course, of course: we know all about that.' But aware at once, with the fine instinct belonging to her mental organization, that she was thus shutting the door against all further communication, she added instantly: 'But what is one's duty? There is the question.'
'The thing that lies next you, of course. You are, and must remain, the sole judge of that. Another cannot help you.'
'But that is just what I do not know.'
I interrupt Lady Georgina to remark—for I too have been a pupil of Falconer—that I believe she must have suspected what her duty was, and would not look firmly at her own suspicion. She added:
'I want direction.'
But the same moment she proceeded to indicate the direction in which she wanted to be directed; for she went on:
'You know that now-a-days there are so many modes in which to employ one's time and money that one does not know which to choose. The lower strata of society, you know, Mr. Falconer—so many channels! I want the advice of a man of experience, as to the best investment, if I may use the expression: I do not mean of money only, but of time as well.'
'I am not fitted to give advice in such a matter.'
'Mr. Falconer!'
'I assure you I am not. I subscribe to no society myself—not one.'