He noticed her glance wander and did not know that she was half instinctively looking for Andrew, but it rested again on Dick, brooding but calm. Williamson saw that she felt no keen animosity against himself. She knew or suspected that they were, in some respects, opponents, but this did not make her vindictive. She would take the course she had determined on without hating him. This indicated strength of character, but it was too detached an attitude for a young girl fighting for her lover.
"Dick looks better than he did," he remarked to give her an opening.
"Yes," said Elsie, fixing her eyes quietly on his face; "very much better than he did when he came home from town."
Williamson admired her courage.
"For which you held me to blame!" he said.
"Partly to blame."
"Well, I see you're trying to be fair, though I'm half afraid you failed. But since you meant to raise this point, I must warn you against looking at things out of their right perspective. It makes those in the foreground appear too big."
"You mean one should not exaggerate their relative importance?"
"Exactly. You must, for example, allow for the exhilarating effect a change of air has on a young man fresh from the country who spends a few days in town. Remember that Dick leads a very quiet and monotonous life at Appleyard."
"A sober life is much the best for him."