It might have
been a tramp. I'm very much afraid of tramps.'
'I said I would see you home.'
'Yes, I forgot. Let us go on.'
'You didn't stay long.'
'I don't think Mrs. Sales is very well.'
'She isn't. She gets hysterical and that affects her heart. I thought
you would do her good.' He seemed to blame Henrietta. 'And I thought a
walk with you would do me good, too. I have a pretty dull life.'
'Aren't you interested in your cows and things?'
'A man can't live on cows.'
'But you have other things and you live in the country. People can't
have everything. I don't suppose you'd change with anybody really, if
you could. People are like that. They grumble, but they like being
themselves. Suppose you were a young man in a shop, measuring cloth or
selling bacon. You'd find that much duller, I should think.'
He laughed a little. 'Where did you learn this wisdom?'
'I've had experience,' she said staidly. 'Yes, you'd find it duller.'
'Perhaps you're right. But then, you might come to buy the bacon. I
should look forward to that.'
In the darkness, these playful words frightened her a little; they
hurt her sense of what was fitting from him to her and at the same
time they pleased her with their hint of danger.
'Would you?' she asked slowly.
He paused, saying, 'May I light a pipe?' and by the flame of the match
he examined her face quite openly for a moment. 'You know I would,' he
said.
She met his look, her eyes wavered and neither spoke for a long time.
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