'Oh, I don't think there will be any difficulty about that,' she said
eagerly. 'I'll bring your breakfast and dinner up, and you are out nearly
all day.'

'Very well, then, and I'll promise not to bring home any friends,' he added
gallantly.

'But I'm afraid you'll be very lonely, sir.'

'I'll have you to talk to sometimes.'

Kate made no answer, but they both felt that the words implied more than
they actually meant, and they remained silent, like people who had come to
some important conclusion. Then after a long pause, and without any
transition, Mr. Lennox spoke of the heat of the weather and of the harm it
was likely to do their business at the theatre. She asked him what he
thought of Hanley. Mr. Lennox smiled through his faint moustache and said
the red brick hurt his eyes.

Kate did not feel quite satisfied with this last observation, and spoke of
the pretty places there were about the town. Pointing down a red
perspective backed by the usual hills, she told him that Trentham, the Duke
of Sutherland's place, was over there.

'What, over those hills? That must be miles away.'

'Oh, not so far as that. Hanley doesn't reach to there. The country is
beautiful, once you get past Stoke. I went once to see the Duke's place,
and we had tea in the inn. That was the only time I was ever really in the
country, and even then we were never quite out of sight of the factories.