es are different. None of you are the least
afraid of me--I should be sorry if you were. But I am afraid of you: you
are such superior beings. You know you are: you look on my masculine
dulness with contempt; and so do I. It is my deep and loyal respect for
a woman--which you said I would never learn. Jane, you hurt me then; you
have hurt me often. I would have been fonder of you--showed it more, I
mean; but affection, repulsed, shrank into the shell of indifference. Be
kind, now, and I will do anything you say. You see, I _am_ getting on."

"I wish you would get on toward the business in hand. A nice time
Clarice must have had with you. I can see now why she had to keep so
tight a rein on you, and to rule you by fear. Will you speak to her, or
will you not?"

"Of course I will, before I go. We can't hear from Jim for several days
yet. She will probably come to me before that. If not, I'll have to go
to her. Jane, there are some things that you don't understand, and I
can't explain."

"Queer things they must be, then. I wonder that a man should be such a
coward."

"If you were a man, you wouldn't. I don't care to display my courage at
home, sister. You are harder than Clarice. You want me to be all around
the circle at once, and whatever I do, you find fault. My dear, ever
since you spoke, I have been hanging about, to give her a chance to say
what she wants. How can I stride up to her and shout, 'Here, tell me
what to say to your runaway lover'? She knows all about it, if you
don't. I'll wait to-morrow after breakfast; tell her so, if you will.
She has only to look at me, and I'll ask her, if she wishes. Then you
can scold me to your heart's content for making a mess of it, and being
rough and brutal and stupid. Jane, I am doing the best I can. If I could
put myself absolutely into your hands, and be but a voice and body to
your mind, it might be an improvement; but unhappily that is not
feasible at present. Will what I propose answer?"

"Perhaps: I will see. I may have been unjust to you, Robert: you are
different from most men, and not easy to understand: you like to let
part of you pass for the whole. Whether you are so easy to rule as you
pretend to be, I am not sure yet. Well, there is time to find out. If
you live by your professions, well and good. Kiss me, dear; good-night."

Since Jane has panned out in this unexpected way, I wish I could tell
her the Secret: she might give me some points. But that is
i