it last?"

"I should say no!... Well, no--I should say yes!"

"Which?"

"H'm--well, perhaps _no!_ Yes--_no!_ At the same time, the parties are
peculiar. He'll last--there's no doubt of that!... And I don't see any
changed conditions ahead.... Unless...."

"Unless what?"

"Unless he gets his eyesight again."

"Do you mean that Gwen will put him off, if he sees her?"

"No--come now--I say, Miss Dickenson--hang it all!"

"Well, I didn't know! How was I to?"

Some mysterious change in the conditions of the conversation came about
unaccountably, causing a laugh both joined in with undisguised
cordiality; they might almost be said to have hob-nobbed over a
unanimous appreciation of Gwen. Its effect was towards a mellower
familiarity--an expurgation of starch, which might even hold good until
one of them wrote an order for some more. For this lady and gentleman,
however much an interview might soften them, had always hitherto
restiffened for the next one. At this exact moment, Mr. Pellew entered
on an explanation of his meaning in a lower key, for seriousness; and
walked perceptibly nearer the lady. Because a dropped voice called for
proximity.

"What I meant to say was, that pity for the poor chap's misfortune may
have more to do with Gwen's feelings towards him--you understand?--than
she herself thinks."

"I quite understand. Go on."

"If he were to recover his sight outright there would be nothing left to
pity him for. Is it not conceivable that she might change altogether?"

"She would not admit it, even to herself."

"That is very likely--pride and _amour propre_, and that sort of thing!
But suppose that he suspected a change?"

"I see what you mean."

"These affairs are so confoundedly ... ticklish. Heaven only knows
sometimes which way the cat is going to jump! It certainly seems to me,
though, that the peculiar conditions of this case supply an element of
insecurity, of possible disintegration, that does not exist in ordinary
everyday life. You must admit that the circumstances are ... are
abnormal."

"Very. But don't you think, Mr. Pellew, that circumstances very often
_are_ abnormal?--more often than not, I should have said. Perhaps that's
the wrong way of putting it, but you know what I mean." Mr. Pellew
didn't. But he said he did. He recognised this way of looking at the
unusual as profound and perspicuous. She continued, reinforced by his
approval:--"What I was driving at was that when two