Would you mind asking him--or shall I?"
An abrupt silence marked this introduction of a subject
upon which the couple had differed openly. Thorpe,
through processes unaccountable to himself, had passed
from a vivid dislike of General Kervick to a habit of
mind in which he thoroughly enjoyed having him about.
The General had been twice to High Thorpe, and on each
occasion had so prolonged his stay that, in retrospect,
the period of his absence seemed inconsiderable.
The master now, thinking upon it in this minute of silence,
was conscious of having missed him greatly. He would
not have been bored to the extremity of threatening
to go to London, if Kervick had been here. The General
was a gentleman, and yet had the flexible adaptability
of a retainer; he had been trained in discipline, and hence
knew how to defer without becoming fulsome or familiar;
he was a man of the world and knew an unlimited number of
racy stories, and even if he repeated some of them unduly,
they were better than no stories at all. And then,
there was his matchless, unfailing patience in playing
chess or backgammon or draughts or bezique, whatever he
perceived that the master desired.
"If you really wish it," Edith said at last, coldly.
"But that's what I don't understand," Thorpe urged upon
her with some vigour.
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