The day
would come when she could find courage to speak to him. She waited
and prepared herself.
Prepared herself, for that, and for so much else. Waymark's
behaviour would have cost her the bitterest misery, had she not been
able to explain it to her own satisfaction. There could be but one
reason why he held aloof from her, and that an all-sufficient one.
In her new position, it was impossible for him to be more than just
friendly to her. If that had been his attitude in the old days, how
could his self-respect allow him to show the slightest change? In
his anxiety not to do so, he had even fallen short of the former
kindness. No forgiveness was needed, when she felt that she
understood him so well. But all the more did it behove her to make
herself worthy of him in all things. She had still so much to learn;
she was so far his inferior in culture and understanding. Her
studies with Miss Hurst were fruitful. Nor were her domestic duties
forgotten. Mr. Woodstock had supplied her with a good housekeeper,
to help her inexperience, but Ida took an adequate burden on her own
shoulders. This again was a new and keen joy.
Waymark dined with them one Sunday in June, and, in the course of
the evening, went with Abraham to the smoking-room for some private
conversation.
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