Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/375

Rh “Bessy has spoken to me once or twice—but I know very little of Mr. Amherst’s point of view; except,” Justine added, after another moment’s weighing of alternatives, “that I believe he suffers most from being cut off from his work at Westmore.”

“Yes—so I think; but that is a difﬁculty that time and expediency must adjust. All we can do—their friends, I mean—is to get them together again before the breach is too wide.”

Justine pondered. She was perhaps more ignorant of the situation than Mrs. Ansell imagined, for since her talk with Bessy the latter had not again alluded to Amherst’s absence, and Justine could merely conjecture that he had carried out his plan of taking the management of the mill he had spoken of. What she most wished to know was whether he had listened to her entreaty, and taken the position temporarily, without binding himself by the acceptance of a salary; or whether, wounded by the outrage of Bessy’s ﬂight, he had freed himself from ﬁnancial dependence by engaging himself deﬁnitely as manager.

“I really know very little of the present situation,” Justine said, looking at Mrs. Ansell. “Bessy merely told me that Mr. Amherst had taken up his old work in a cotton mill in the south.”

As her eyes met Mrs. Ansell’s it ﬂashed across her that the latter did not believe what she said, and the [ 359 ]