“Your cousin’s certainly an inducement. But what does the doctor say?”
“I haven’t asked him, and I don’t care a fig. If I die here Mrs. Osmond will bury me. But I shall not die here.”
“I hope not.” Lord Warburton continued to smoke reflectively. “Well, I must say,” he resumed, “for myself I’m very glad you don’t insist on Sicily. I had a horror of that journey.”
“Ah, but for you it needn’t have mattered. I had no idea of dragging you in my train.”
“I certainly didn’t mean to let you go alone.”
“My dear Warburton, I never expected you to come further than this,” Ralph cried.
“I should have gone with you and seen you settled,” said Lord Warburton.
“You’re a very good Christian. You’re a very kind man.”
“Then I should have come back here.”
“And then you’d have gone to England.”