"
"It _will_ mar him," returned Mr. Liddell, in more energetic tones than
Katherine had heard him utter since he was laid up. "A man who believes
he is rich enough to throw away money is on the brink of ruin. He
appears to me in a totally different light. I thought he was steady,
thoughtful, alive to the responsibility of his position. Ah, who is to
be trusted? Who?"
There seemed no reply to this, for Mr. Newton started a new and
absorbing topic.
"Mr. Fergusson is keeping wonderfully well," he remarked. "His sister
was calling on my wife yesterday, and says that since he took this new
food--'Revalenta Arabica,' I think it is called--he is quite a new man."
"What food is that?" asked Mr. Liddell. While Newton explained,
Katherine reflected with some wonder on the fact that there was a Mrs.
Newton; it had never come to her knowledge before. She tried to imagine
the precise lawyer in love. How did he propose? Surely on paper, in the
most strictly legal terms! Could he ever have felt the divine joy and
exultation which loving and being loved must create? Had he little
children? and oh! did he, could he, ever dance them on his knee? He was
a good man, she was sure, but goodness so starched and ironed was a
little appalling.
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