spectacles and thick ankles! Poor Mrs. Hicks used to say to
Nick: 'When Mr. Hicks and I had Coral educated we presumed
culture was in greater demand in Europe than it appears to be.'"

"Well, you'll see: that girl's education won't interfere with
her, once she's started. So then: if Nick came in and told you
he was going off--"

"I should be so thankful if it was with a fright like Coral!
But you know," she added with a smile, "we've agreed that it's
not to happen for a year."



VI.

SUSY found Strefford, after his first burst of nonsense,
unusually kind and responsive. The interest he showed in her
future and Nick's seemed to proceed not so much from his
habitual spirit of scientific curiosity as from simple
friendliness. He was privileged to see Nick's first chapter, of
which he formed so favourable an impression that he spoke
sternly to Susy on the importance of respecting her husband's
working hours; and he even carried his general benevolence to
the length of showing a fatherly interest in Clarissa Vanderlyn.
He was always charming to children, but fitfully and warily,
with an eye on his independence, and on the possibility of being
suddenly bored by them; Susy had never seen him abandon these
precautions so completely as he did with Clarissa.