“If you’ll be just to both of us, I’ll be satisfied.”
“I suppose that means you’re convinced of the equity of your cause,” she suggested.
“I expect I deserve the rebuke, but aren’t you trying to switch me off the subject?” Vane answered with a laugh. “It’s Celia Hartley I want to talk about.”
He did her injustice; Jessie felt that she had earned his gratitude, and she had no objection to his expressing it.
“It was a happy thought of yours to give her hats and things to make; I’m ever so much obliged to you. I felt you could be trusted to think of the right thing. An ingenious idea of that kind would never have occurred to me.”
“It was very simple; I noticed a hat and dress of hers which she owned she had made. The girl has some talent; I’m only sorry I can’t keep her busy.”
“Couldn’t you give her an order for a dozen hats? I’d be glad to be responsible.”
“The difficulty would be the disposal of them. They would be of no use to you, and I couldn’t allow you to present them to me.”
“I wish I could,” Vane declared. “You certainly deserve them.”
This was satisfactory, so far as it went, though Jessie would have preferred that his desire to bestow the favour should have sprung from some other motive than a recognition of her services to Celia Hartley. She was, however, convinced that his only feeling towards the girl was one of compassion. Then she saw that he was looking at her with half-humorous annoyance in his face.