‘It must be dreary for her!’
‘Dreary! I should poison the old dragon.’
‘Well, perhaps I had better tell you, for Miss Pease’s sake, who is evidently the only one that cares a straw about me in the matter, that possibly I shall be absent a good many days this week, and perhaps the next too.’
‘Why, then—if I may ask—Mr Absolute?’
‘Because a friend of mine is going to pay me a visit. You remember Charley Osborne, don’t you? Of course you do. You remember the ice-cave, I am sure.’
‘Yes, I do—quite well,’ she answered.
I fancied I saw a shadow cross her face.
‘When do you expect him?’ she asked, turning away, and picking a book from the floor.
‘In a week or so, I think. He tells me his mother and sister are coming here on a visit.’
‘Yes—so I believe—to-morrow, I think. I wonder if I ought to be going. I don’t think I will. I came to please them—at all events not to please myself; but as I find it pleasanter than I expected, I won’t go without a hint and a half at least.’