"She will be here immediately."
"Has she persuaded you to return with her? I wish you would. Lady G—— gives a dinner at Richmond on Thursday; it will be rather amusing. I know most of the fellows who are going, and I think you would enjoy it. You like good talkers, I know."
"Thank you; I have refused."
"Absolutely?"
"Absolutely."
De Burgh came over and leaned his shoulder against the side of the window opposite to where Katherine sat.
"What are you thinking of, if I may ask, Miss Liddell?" he said. "You have scarcely heard what I said. They are not pleasant thoughts, I fancy."
"No," she returned, glad to put them into words that she might exorcise them. "Ada has just reproached me with supplanting her with her boys, and it made me feel, as Americans say 'bad.'"
"Why?" he asked. "Why should you not? I would lay long odds that you love them more than she does. You are more a real mother to them. Why are you always straining at gnats? You really lose a lot of time, which might be more agreeably occupied, worrying over the rights and wrongs of things. Follow my example: go straight ahead for whatever you desire, provided it's not robbery, and let things balance themselves."
"Has that system made you supremely happy?"