"Have you been working very much, Anna?" he took occasion to ask, drawing her for a moment aside.
"I am always working very hard," she answered, with her sweet smile of patient endurance. "There is a great deal to be done in schools, you know; but I am well off at Miss Jupp's compared to what I was at the other place. They are very kind to me."
"You have a look upon you as if you felt tired always. It is a curious impression to draw though, perhaps, considering I have seen you but for ten minutes."
"I do feel tired nearly always," acknowledged Anna. "The Miss Jupps think London does not agree with me. I am going to Coastdown for a change for the holidays; I shall get better there."
He thought she would require a longer change than a few holiday weeks. Never in the old days had it struck him that Anna looked fragile; but she certainly did now.
"And now, Robert Hunter, you'll stay with us, as these young ladies are here?" said hospitable Mrs. Macpherson.
He hesitated before replying. Very much indeed would he have liked to remain, but he had made an appointment with a gentleman.
"Put it off," said Mrs. Macpherson.
"There's no time for that. Certainly--if I am not at the office when he comes, one of the partners would see him. But--"
"But what?" asked the professor. "Would not that be a solution of the difficulty?"