 Henry Gowan to his daughter.«
    »I am pretty sure he picked her up at Rome; but never mind where -
somewhere. Now (this is entirely between ourselves), is she very plebeian?«
    »Really, ma'am,« returned Clennam, »I am so undoubtedly plebeian myself,
that I do not feel qualified to judge.«
    »Very neat!« said Mrs. Gowan, coolly unfurling her screen. »Very happy! From
which I infer that you secretly think her manner equal to her looks?«
    Clennam, after a moment's stiffness, bowed.
    »That's comforting, and I hope you may be right. Did Henry tell me you had
travelled with them?«
    »I travelled with my friend Mr. Meagles, and his wife and daughter, during
some months.« (Nobody's heart might have been wrung by the remembrance.)
    »Really comforting, because you must have had a large experience of them.
You see, Mr. Clennam, this thing has been going on for a long time, and I find
no improvement in it. Therefore to have the opportunity of speaking to one so
well informed about it as yourself, is an immense relief to me. Quite a boon.
Quite a blessing, I am sure.«
    »Pardon me,« returned Clennam, »but I am not in Mr. Henry Gowan's
confidence. I am far from being so well informed as you suppose me to be. Your
mistake makes my position a very delicate one. No word on this topic has ever
passed between Mr. Henry Gowan and myself.«
    Mrs. Gowan glanced at the other end of the room, where her son was playing
écarté on a sofa, with the old lady who was for a charge of cavalry.
    »Not in his confidence? No,« said Mrs. Gowan. »No word has passed between
you? No. That I can imagine. But there are unexpressed confidences, Mr. Clennam;
and as you have been together intimately among these people, I cannot doubt that
a confidence of that sort exists in the present case. Perhaps you have heard
that I have suffered the keenest distress of mind from Henry's having taken to a
pursuit which - well!« shrugging her shoulders, »a very respectable pursuit, I
dare say, and some artists are, as artists, quite superior persons; still, we
never yet in our family have gone beyond an Amateur, and it is a pardonable
weakness to feel a little -«
    As Mrs. Gowan
