But she shook her head.
“You see, I’m bound by a contract,” she said, “and I have to support rather a large family.”
Involuntarily I staggered a little.
“But, Mary,” I cried.
“Brothers and sisters,” she explained. “I’m paying for their education.”
Profoundly relieved, and not a little touched, I regained my equilibrium and invited her to confide in me. Her mother was dead, it appeared, and her father had been unfortunate and was now unable to provide for his children.
“And so they batten,” I said, “on your ill-gotten earnings.”
She turned and looked at me for a moment in silence. Then she smiled again as she put on her slippers.
“You seem to understand things,” she said, “so quickly.”
Then a small boy looked round the door.