"You express yourself a trifle obscurely, but I think I comprehend your meaning," he said, without change of voice. If I could have seen his eyes flash, or his imperturbable calm disturbed, my own anger would have been less keen.
"May I go now?" I presently asked, quite subdued; for he had fallen into a brown study, and was still holding my hand.
"Yes, I had forgotten," he said, turning away, and a moment after entered the library and shut the door. I went in search of Mrs. Flaxman, whom I found still in the breakfast-room, and in a rather nervous condition, busy about the china, which she rarely permitted the servant to wash.
"Shall we stay long in New York?" I asked, very cheerfully, the fifty dollars I held in my hand, and the easy way I had got off with Mr. Winthrop, making me quite elated.
"One can never tell. Mr. Winthrop is very uncertain; we may return in a day or two, or we may stay a fortnight."
"You are not anxious to go?" I questioned, seeing her troubled face.
"Not just now, in the height of the pickling and preserving season. Reynolds has excellent judgment, but I prefer looking after such things myself."
She looked wistfully at me while she dried her china. "May I help you, Mrs. Flaxman? It never occurred to me before that I might share your burdens. I should learn to have cares, as well as others."
"I always like to have you with me, dear. Sometimes I try to make myself believe God has given you to me, instead of my own little Medoline."
"Had you a daughter once?"