 acquaintances; have met very interesting people.
I am glad of it; it enables me to understand you better than I could before.«
    »You are glad on that account?«
    »Yes; indeed I am.«
    »Dare I think you mean more than a civil phrase?«
    »I mean quite simply all that my words imply. I have thought of you, though
certainly without bitterness. No one's conversation in London interested me so
much as yours.«
    Soothed with an exquisite joy, Godwin felt his eyes moisten. For a moment he
was reconciled to all the world, and forgot the hostilities of a lifetime.
    »And will it still be so, now, when you go back?« he asked, in a soft tone.
    »I am sure it will.«
    »Then it will be strange if I ever feel bitterly again.«
    Sidwell smiled.
    »You could have said nothing that could please me more. Why should your life
be troubled by these dark moods? I could understand it if you were still
struggling with - with doubts, with all manner of uncertainties about your
course« -
    She hesitated, watching his face.
    »You think I have chosen well?« said Godwin, meeting her look.
    Sidwell's eyes were at once averted.
    »I hope,« she said, »we may talk of that again very soon. You have told me
much of yourself, but I have said little or nothing of my own - difficulties. It
won't be long before we come back from London, and then« -
    Once more their eyes met steadily.
    »You think,« Godwin asked, »that I am right in aiming at a life of
retirement?«
    »It is one of my doubts. Your influence would be useful anywhere; but most
useful, surely, among people of active mind.«
    »Perhaps I shan't be able to choose. Remember that I am seeking for a
livelihood as well as for a sphere of usefulness.«
    His eyes fell as he spoke. Hitherto he had had no means of learning whether
Sidwell would bring her husband a dowry substantial enough to be considered.
Though he could not feel that she had betrothed herself to him, their talk was
so nearly that of avowed lovers that perchance she would disclose whatever might
help to put his mind at rest. The thought revived his painful
self-consciousness; it was that of a schemer, yet would not the curse of poverty
have suggested it to any man?
    »Perhaps you won't be able to
