"Hardly studying. Only musing—as such a day makes one muse. I was thinking, Mrs. Barclay, what use I could make of my life."
"What use? Can you make better use of it than you are doing, in taking care of Mrs. Armadale?"
"Yes—as things are now. But in the common course of things I should outlive grandmamma."
"Then you will marry somebody, and take care of him."
"Very unlikely, I think."
"May I ask, why?"
"I do not know anybody that is the sort of man I could marry."
"What do you require?" asked Mrs. Barclay.
"A great deal, I suppose," said Lois slowly. "I have never studied that; I was not studying it just now. But I was thinking, what might be the best way of making myself of some use in the world. Foolish, too."
"Why so?"