"That will do," smiled Mrs. Doria. "He will be more patient at the end of a week."
"Oh! does patience beget patience?" said Adrian. "I was not aware it was a propagating virtue. I surrender him to you. I shan't be able to hold him in after one week more. I assure you, my dear aunt, he's already"....
"Thank you, no explanation," Mrs. Doria begged.
When Richard saw her next, he was informed that she had received a most satisfactory letter from Mrs. John Todhunter: quite a glowing account of John's behaviour: but on Richard's desiring to know the words Clare had written, Mrs. Doria objected to be explicit, and shot into worldly gossip.
"Clare seldom glows," said Richard.
"No, I mean for her," his aunt remarked. "Don't look like your father, child."
"I should like to have seen the letter," said Richard.
Mrs. Doria did not propose to show it.