'That is by no means impossible for you, I think?'

'Not really impossible,' Monica replied with hesitation.

Something like dissatisfaction passed over Miss Nunn's face, though
she did not allow Monica to see it. Her lips moved in a way that
perhaps signified disdain for such timidity. Tolerance was not one
of the virtues expressed in her physiognomy.

'Let us go back to the drawing-room and have some tea.'

Monica could not become quite at ease. This energetic woman had
little attraction for her. She saw the characteristics which made
Virginia enthusiastic, but feared rather than admired them. To put
herself in Miss Nunn's hands might possibly result in a worse form
of bondage than she suffered at the shop; she would never be able to
please such a person, and failure, she imagined, would result in
more or less contemptuous dismissal.

Then of a sudden, as it she had divined these thoughts, Rhoda
assumed an air of gaiety of frank kindness.

'So it is your birthday? I no longer keep count of mine, and
couldn't tell you without a calculation what I am exactly. It
doesn't matter, you see. Thirty-one or fifty-one is much the same
for a woman who has made up her mind to live alone and work steadily
for a definite object. But you are still a young girl, Monica. My
best wishes!'

Monica emboldened herself to ask what the object was for which her