'And I am her guest!'
'Oh! pray, do not think Mrs. Adister will ever allow you to feel the lightest shadow...' said Jane.
'No; that makes it worse.'
Had this been the burden of his thoughts when those two solitary tears forced their passage?
Hardly: not even in his physical weakness would he consent to weep for such a cause.
'I forgot to mention that Mrs. Adister has a letter from her husband telling her he has been called over to Ireland on urgent business,' she said.
Philip answered: 'He is punctilious.'
'I wish indeed he had been more candid,' Jane assented to the sarcasm.
'In Ireland he is agreeably surprised by the flattering proposal of a vacant seat, and not having an instant to debate on it, assumes the consent of the heavenliest wife in Christendom.'
Philip delivered the speech with a partial imitation of Captain Con addressing his wife on his return as the elected among the pure Irish party. The effort wearied him.