Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/63

Rh He had hardly spoken when he felt the inappropriateness of this avowal; but her prompt response showed him, a moment later, that it was, after all, the straightest way to his end.

“You ﬁnd the work interesting? I’m sure it must be. You’ll think me very ignorant—my husband and I came here so seldom.… I feel as if I ought to know so much more about it,” she explained.

At last the note for which he waited had been struck. “Won’t you try to—now you’re here? There’s so much worth knowing,” he broke out impetuously.

Mrs. Westmore coloured, but rather with surprise than displeasure. “I’m very stupid—I’ve no head for business—but I will try to,” she said.

“It’s not business that I mean; it’s the personal relation—just the thing the business point of view leaves out. Financially, I don’t suppose your mills could be better run; but there are over seven hundred women working in them, and there’s so much to be done, just for them and their children.”

He caught a faint hint of withdrawal in her tone. “I have always understood that Mr. Truscomb did everything”

Amherst ﬂushed; but he was beyond caring for the personal rebuff. “Do you leave it to your little girl’s nurses to do everything for her?” he asked.

Her surprise seemed about to verge on annoyance: [ 51 ]