’You thought me unworthy of you.  You can confess to me that you were mistaken.’

‘I didn’t know you as I do now,’ fell from the expressionless lips.

’Thank you for saying that!  Well, then, your anxiety is at an end.  You are not in the hands of a mercenary enemy, but of a man whose principles forbid him to do anything ignoble, who has an ideal of life, the result of much study and thought.  You have never heard me speak about religion, but you would be gravely mistaken if you thought I had no religious convictions.  Some day I shall treat that subject before our Society, and it is probable that my views will give rise to a good deal of discussion.  I have formed a religion for myself; when I write my essay, I think I shall call it “The Religion of a Man of Business.”  One of the great evils of the day is the vulgar supposition that commerce has nothing to do with religious faith.  I shall show how utterly wrong that is.  It would take too long to explain to you my mature views of Christianity.  I am not sure that I recognise any of the ordinary dogmas; I think I have progressed beyond them.  However, we shall have many opportunities of talking about these things.’

Nancy uttered a mere ‘Yes.’  She was looking at Tarrant’s letter on the side-table, and wishing to be alone that she might read it again.

‘In the meantime,’ Samuel pursued, ’whatever difficulty arises, confide it to me.  Probably you will wish to tell me more before long; you know that I am not unworthy to be your adviser.  And so let us shake hands, in sign of genuine friendship.’

Nancy gave her fingers, which felt very cold upon Barmby’s warm, moist palm.

‘This conversation has been trying to you,’ he said, ’but relief of mind will soon follow.  If anything occurs to me that may help to soothe you, I will write.’

‘Thank you.’

’At the beginning of our interview you didn’t think it would end like this?’

There was something of the boy in Samuel, perhaps the wholesomest part of him.  Having manifested his admirable qualities, he felt a light-hearted pleasure in asking for renewed assurance of the good opinion he had earned.

‘I hardly cared,’ said Nancy, as she rose with a sigh of weariness.

‘But you have got over that.  You will be quite cheerful now?’

‘In time, no doubt.’

’I shall call again—­let us say on Wednesday evening.  By that time I shall be able to put you entirely at ease with regard to Miss Morgan.’

Nancy made no reply.  In shaking hands, she regarded the radiant Samuel with a dreamy interest; and when he had left her, she still gazed for a few moments at the door.

CHAPTER 4