How
horrid it will be here when you are all gone!'
'We are not gone yet,' said Wilmet, repressively. 'And if you please,
Alice, do not talk of this.'
'No,' said Felix, 'it must be entirely a family matter. I know we can
trust to you.'
'Thank you. I'm so glad I was there. It is so nice to have a secret
of yours--and this is a beauty! Why, you'll be a great man with a
house in London, just like Mr. Underwood of Centry.'
'Pleasing ambition,' Cherry could not help muttering, with an
ironical smile, as Alice laughed and nodded herself away.
'Ready sympathy is a pleasant thing,' returned Felix.
'You don't mean that you think this feasible?' said Wilmet, with a
negative inflection in her voice.
'I think it ought to be considered before it is absolutely too late.'
Both were surprised, having always thought that he considered his
destiny as fixed; and as Geraldine looked on while the other two
discussed pounds, shillings, and pence, it was plain to her that he
had an inclination to the change. The probability of rising, the
benefit of lodging Edgar, the nearness to Alda, the probable openings
for the younger lads, were advantages; but against these Wilmet set
the heavy London house-rent, rates and taxes--from which they were
free--the expense of living, the loss of her present situation, the
dangers of deterioration of health.
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