‘I want something to drink,’ he said wearily, without raising his eyes.

‘Will you have the lime-water, sir?’

‘Yes—­what you like.’

Mary brought it to him, and he drank two large glasses, with no pause.

‘Where is Nancy?’

‘In town, sir.  She said she would be back about four.’

He made an angry movement.

’What’s she doing in town?  She said nothing to me.  Why doesn’t she come back to lunch?  Where does she go to for all these hours?’

‘I don’t know, sir.’

The servant spoke in a low, respectful voice, looking at her master with eyes that seemed to compassionate him.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’  He waved a hand, as if in dismissal.  ’Wait—­if I’m to be alone, I might as well have lunch now.  I feel hungry, as if I hadn’t eaten anything for twenty-four hours.  Get me something, Mary.’

Later in the afternoon his bell again sounded, and Mary answered it.  As he did not speak at once,—­he was standing by the window with his hands behind him,—­she asked him his pleasure.

‘Bring me some water, Mary, plain drinking-water.’

She returned with a jug and glass, and he took a long draught.

’No, don’t go yet.  I want to—­to talk to you about things.  Sit down there for a minute.’

He pointed to the couch, and Mary, with an anxious look, obeyed him.

’I’m thinking of leaving this house, and going to live in the country.  There’s no reason why I shouldn’t.  My partner can look after the business well enough.’

’It might be the best thing you could do, sir.  The best for your health.’

’Yes, it might.  I’m not satisfied with things.  I want to make a decided change, in every way.’

His face had grown more haggard during the last few days, and his eyes wandered, expressing fretfulness or fear; he spoke with effort, and seemed unable to find the words that would convey his meaning.

‘Now I want you to tell me plainly, what do you think of Nancy?’

‘Think of her, sir?’

’No, no—­don’t speak in that way.  I don’t want you to call me ‘sir’; it isn’t necessary; we’ve known each other so long, and I think of you as a friend, a very good friend.  Think of me in the same way, and speak naturally.  I want to know your opinion of Nancy.’

The listener had a face of grave attention:  it signified no surprise, no vulgar self-consciousness, but perhaps a just perceptible pleasure.  And in replying she looked steadily at her master for a moment.

’I really don’t feel I can judge her, Mr. Lord.  It’s true, in a way, I ought to know her very well, as I’ve seen her day by day since she was a little thing.  But now she’s a well-educated and clever young lady, and she has got far beyond me—­’