Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 1 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/109

, "I look at you with curiosity: you're the first unoccupied man I ever saw."

"Don't look at me too hard," Rowland laughed. "I shall sink into the earth. What 's the name of your little place?"

"West Nazareth," said Mary Garland with her usual directness. "It 's not so terribly small, though it 's smaller than Northampton."

"I wonder whether I could find any work at West Nazareth," Rowland said.

"You would n't like it very much," Miss Garland declared reflectively. "Though there are far finer woods there than these. We have miles and miles of woods."

"I might chop down trees," said Rowland. "That is if you allow it."

"Allow it? Why, where should we get our fire wood?" Then noticing that he had spoken jestingly she glanced at him askance, though with no visible diminution of her gravity. "Don't you know how to do anything at all? Have you no sort of profession?"

Rowland shook his head. "Absolutely none."

"What do you then do all day?"

"Nothing that would make a figure in a description. That's why, as I tell you, I'm going to Europe. There at least if I do nothing I shall see a great deal; and if I 'm not a producer I shall at any rate be an observer."

"Can't we observe everywhere?"

"Certainly; and I really think that in that way I make the most of my opportunities. Though I 75