Jasper moved uncomfortably. It was a voluntary gesture.

'The whole situation explains it,' he replied, with some show of
impulsiveness. 'I am very much afraid Marian is tied during her father's
life.'

'Indeed? But there is her mother.'

'No companion for her father, as I think you know. Even if Mr Yule
recovers his sight, it is not at all likely that he will be able to work
as before. Our difficulties are so grave that--'

He paused, and let his hand fail despondently.

'I hope it isn't affecting your work--your progress?'

'To some extent, necessarily. I have a good deal of will, you remember,
and what I have set my mind upon, no doubt, I shall some day achieve.
But--one makes mistakes.'

There was silence.

'The last three years,' he continued, 'have made no slight difference
in my position. Recall where I stood when you first knew me. I have done
something since then, I think, and by my own steady effort.'

'Indeed, you have.'

'Just now I am in need of a little encouragement. You don't notice any
falling off in my work recently?'

'No, indeed.'

'Do you see my things in The Current and so on, generally?'

'I don't think I miss many of your articles. Sometimes I believe I have
detected you when there was no signature.'

'And Dora has been doing well. Her story in that girls' paper has
attracted attention. It's a great deal to have my mind at rest about
both the girls. But I can't pretend to be in very good spirits.' He
rose. 'Well, I must try to find out something more about poor Biffen.'

'Oh, you are not going yet, Mr Milvain?'

'Not, assuredly, because I wish to. But I have work to do.' He stepped
aside, but came back as if on an impulse. 'May I ask you for your advice
in a very delicate matter?'

Amy was a little disturbed, but she collected herself and smiled in a
way that reminded Jasper of his walk with her along Gower Street.

'Let me hear what it is.'

He sat down again, and bent forward.

'If Marian insists that it is her duty to remain with her father, am I
justified or not in freely consenting to that?'

'I scarcely understand. Has Marian expressed a wish to devote herself in
that way?'

'Not distinctly. But I suspect that her conscience points to it. I am in
serious doubt. On the one hand,' he explained in a tone of candour, 'who
will not blame me if our engagement terminates in circumstances such as
these? On the other--you are aware, by-the-by, that her father objects
i