Yet, as to the scheme, when all demurs were made, she was "of the same opinion still"! His arguments were not new to her; the inward eagerness over-rode them.
"In my own case"—he said at last, the tone passing instantly into reserve and shyness, as always happened when he spoke of himself—"my own wages are two or three shillings higher than those paid generally by the farmers on the estate; and we have a pension fund. But so far, I have felt the risks of any wholesale disturbance of labour on the estate, depending, as it must entirely in my case, on the individual life and will, to be too great to let me go further. I sometimes believe that it is the farmers who would really benefit most by experiments of the kind!"
She protested vehemently, being at the moment, of course, not at all in love with mankind in general, but only with those members of mankind who came within the eye of imagination. He was enchanted to see the old self come out again—positive, obstinate, generous; to see the old confident pose of the head, the dramatic ease of gesture.
Meanwhile something that had to be said, that must, indeed, be said, if he were to give her serious and official advice, pressed uncomfortably on his tongue.
"You know," he said, not looking at her, when at last she had for the moment exhausted argument and prophecy, "you have to think of those who will succeed you here; still more you have to think—of marriage—before you pledge yourself to the halving of your income."
Now he must needs look at her intently, out of sheer nervousness. The difficulty he had had in compelling himself to make the speech at all had given a certain hardness and stiffness to his voice. She felt a sudden shock and chill—resented what he had dismally felt to be an imperative duty.
"I do not think I have any need to think of it—in this connection," she said proudly. And getting up, she began to gather her papers together.
The spell was broken, the charm gone. He felt that he was dismissed.
With a new formality and silence, she led the way into the hall, he following. As they neared the library there was a sound of voices.
Marcella opened the door in surprise, and there, on either side of the fire, sat Betty Macdonald and Frank Leven.