"I had no business to
read this as I picked it up--absolutely no business. Consequently...."
"You won't take any notice of it? Really!"
"Certainly not," said Mr. Lewisham.
Her face lit with a smile, and Mr. Lewisham's relaxed in sympathy. "It
is nothing--it's the proper thing for me to do, you know."
"But so many people won't do it. Schoolmasters are not usually
so--chivalrous."
He was chivalrous! The phrase acted like a spur. He obeyed a foolish
impulse.
"If you like--" he said.
"What?"
"He needn't do this. The Impot., I mean. I'll let him off."
"Really?"
"I can."
"It's awfully kind of you."
"I don't mind," he said. "It's nothing much. If you really think ..."
He was full of self-applause for this scandalous sacrifice of justice.
"It's awfully kind of you," she said.
"It's nothing, really," he explained, "nothing."
"Most people wouldn't--"
"I know."
Pause.
"It's all right," he said. "Really."
He would have given worlds for something more to say, something witty
and original, but nothing came.
The pause lengthened. She glanced over her shoulder down the vacant
avenue. This interview--this momentous series of things unsaid was
coming to an end! She looked at him hesitatingly and smiled again.
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