“I don’t want to fall off. I have been having thrills of delightful dread.”
“I know; just what a man feels before an exam., when he is pretty sure of himself.”
“I don’t know that I am sure of myself.”
“If you can paint other things as you painted that rose, I don’t think there is any need for you to worry.”
The quiet assurance of his praise sent a shiver of exultation through her. What an encouraging and comforting person he was. He just intimated that he believed you could do a thing very well, and the thing itself seemed half done.
“Then I’ll show you the whole place. I’m a bit of an egotist in my way.”
“It’s only showing someone what you have created.”
He took her everywhere, beginning with what he called “the administrative department.” She saw the great glass-houses, the stacks of bracken for packing, the piles of ash and chestnut stakes, the shed where three old men spent their time making big baskets and hampers, the rows and rows of frames, the packing and dispatch sheds, the seed room, the little laboratory, with its microscopes and microtome and shelves of bottles, the office where several clerks were constantly at work.
Canterton was apologetic.
“I have a craze for showing everything.”