thought it better to
let the acquaintance end there.'

'I really didn't think of it in that way at all,' Jasper replied.'We
naturally understood it so, when you even ceased to call, yourself.'

'But don't you feel that there would have been a good deal of
awkwardness in my coming to Mrs Yule's?'

'Seeing that you looked at things from my husband's point of view?'

'Oh, that's a mistake! I have only seen your husband once since he went
to Islington.'

Amy gave him a look of surprise.

'You are not on friendly terms with him?'

'Well, we have drifted apart. For some reason he seemed to think that my
companionship was not very profitable. So it was better, on the whole,
that I should see neither you nor him.'

Amy was wondering whether he had heard of her legacy. He might have been
informed by a Wattleborough correspondent, even if no one in London had
told him.

'Do your sisters keep up their friendship with my cousin Marian?' she
asked, quitting the previous difficult topic.

'Oh yes!' He smiled. 'They see a great deal of each other.'

'Then of course you have heard of my uncle's death?'

'Yes. I hope all your difficulties are now at an end.'

Amy delayed a moment, then said: 'I hope so,' without any emphasis.

'Do you think of spending this winter abroad?'

It was the nearest he could come to a question concerning the future of
Amy and her husband.

'Everything is still quite uncertain. But tell me something about our
old acquaintances. How does Mr Biffen get on?'

'I scarcely ever see him, but I think he pegs away at an interminable
novel, which no one will publish when it's done. Whelpdale I meet
occasionally.'

He talked of the latter's projects and achievements in a lively strain.

'Your own prospects continue to brighten, no doubt,' said Amy.

'I really think they do. Things go fairly well. And I have lately
received a promise of very valuable help.'

'From whom?'

'A relative of yours.'

Amy turned to interrogate him with a look.

'A relative? You mean--?'

'Yes; Marian.'

They were passing Bedford Square. Amy glanced at the trees, now
almost bare of foliage; then her eyes met Jasper's, and she smiled
significantly.

'I should have thought your aim would have been far more ambitious,' she
said, with distinct utterance.

'Marian and I have been engaged for some time--practically.'

'Indeed? I remember now how you once spoke of her. And you will be
married soon?'

'Probably