Page:The Other House (London, William Heinemann, 1896), Volume 2.djvu/107

Rh moral help. Paul had no need of speech to show Jean how he thanked her for understanding why he had not besieged her with a pressure more heroic, and she, on her side, could enter with the tread of a nurse in a sick-room into the spirit of that accommodation. They both, moreover, had been closeted with his mother—an experience on which they could, with some dumb humour, compare notes. The girl, finally, had now, to this dear boy she didn't love, something more to give than she had ever given; and after a little she could see the dawn of suspicion of it in the eyes with which he searched her grave face.

"I knew Miss Armiger had come back here, and I thought I should find her," he presently explained.

"She was here a few minutes ago—she has just left me," Jean said.

"To go in again?" Paul appeared to wonder he had not met her on his way out.

"To go over to Bounds."

He continued to wonder. "With Mr. Bream?"

"No—with his little girl."

Paul's surprise increased. "She has taken her up?"