"You will do far more good by preaching it yourself in your daily life, as indeed I believe you are doing now. But in any case, I did not come here to preach to you."
"You don't know how much I stand in need of it."
"I want you to talk to me. Do you know it is more than a year since I saw you?"
Mona sighed. "It seems five to me sometimes."
"I suppose it has been very full of events?"
Mr Reynolds had not forgotten the man whose presence at Borrowness made "all the difference" in Mona's life there.
"Yes. There was first my life with my cousin; and then the examination; and then Switzerland with the Munros; and then hospital. Four different Mona Macleans,—each living as hard as ever she could."
"And enjoying life?"
"I don't know. I have been so restless, so unsettled."
"I fancied I could read that in your face, but it is passing over now."