She turned round to the child and Mrs Marshall sat down and read. When she had finished she laid the letter on the bed again and was silent.
‘Well?’ said Madge. ‘Would you say “No?”’
‘Yes, I would.’
‘For your own sake, as well as for his?’
Mrs Marshall took up the letter and read half of it again.
‘Yes, you had better say “No.” You will find it dull, especially if you have to live in London.’
‘Did you find London dull when you came to live in it?’
‘Rather; Marshall is away all day long.’
‘But scarcely any woman in London expects to marry a man who is not away all day.’
‘They ought then to have heaps of work, or they ought to have a lot of children to look after; but, perhaps, being born and bred in the country, I do not know what people in London are. Recollect you were country born and bred yourself, or, at anyrate, you have lived in the country for the most of your life.’