"It sounds depressing," Mrs. Featherstone remarked. "We must hope you will find your stay here a pleasant change."
"The curious thing is that it doesn't feel strange. All I've seen so far, including the Garth, seems familiar."
"But perhaps that isn't remarkable. You are English and were, I dare say, brought up in the country and used to our mode of life."
Foster saw Alice glance at him and felt he must be frank.
"No," he said, "my life in England was different from yours. It was spent in monotonous work, and when I went home at night to a shabby room in a street of small dingy houses it was too late, and I was often too dejected, to think of amusements. Twice I spent a glorious ten days among the hills, but that was all I saw of England unspoiled by tramway lines and smoke, and the holidays cost a good deal of self-denial. Railway fares were a serious obstacle."
Alice smiled, but he thought the look she gave him hinted at approval.
"Self-denial isn't so unusual as you seem to think. We know something about it at the Garth."
"But you sent my partner money when he needed it," Foster answered, wondering how far he could go. "The last time it was a large amount and helped us to turn an awkward corner. In fact, we should have gone under for a time if it hadn't come, and I remember feeling that I owed much to friends I might never see, because I shared the benefit with your brother. In its Western sense, partner means more than a business associate."
"That is obvious," Alice rejoined quietly, but with meaning.
"The main thing is that the money seems to have been well spent,"
Featherstone interposed. "For all that, we don't know much about what
Lawrence did with it or, indeed, about his life in Canada."