When she spoke again it was to say: “When do you take the new place?”
“Next month.”
“I am so glad you will be your own master at last! Will you go in on a later train in the mornings, dear?”
“I’ll take an earlier one.”
“But then you’ll come out sooner in the afternoon?”
“I’ll come out much later.”
“Oh, oh!” she sighed, with the prevision of long hours of loneliness for herself.
“At least, you can take more than that miserable two weeks’ holiday in the summer.”
“My dear girl, I shall probably have no vacation at all. You don’t understand; I’ve got to work.”
There was another pause. The fire was burning low, and the room had sunk into partial obscurity. She was the first to speak, as before, conquering anew the tremulousness in her voice: