"
"Of course, that makes all the difference."
"It does; if it isn't good enough--"
"You don't understand me. That's what would make it all right."
"Make what all right?"
"My accepting--if you really only want a stop-gap."
"I see," said Jewdwine to himself, "the youth has tasted liberty, and
he objects to being caught and caged."
"The question is," said Rickman, sinking into thought again, "whether
you really want _me_."
"My dear fellow, why on earth should I say so if I didn't?"
"N--no. Only I thought, after the mess I've made of things, that none
of your family would ever care to have anything to do with me again."
It was the nearest he had come to mentioning Lucia Harden, and the
pain it cost him was visible on his face.
"My family," said Jewdwine with a stiff smile, "will _not_ have
anything to do with you. It has nothing to do with _The Museion_.
"In that case, I don't see why I shouldn't try it, if I can be of any
use to you." From the calmness of his manner you would have supposed
that salaried appointments hung on every lamp-post, ready to drop into
the mouths of impecunious young men of letters.
"Thanks. Then we'll consider that settled for the present."
Impossible to suppose that Rickman was not properly grateful. Still,
instead of thanking Jewdwine, he had made Jewdwine thank him. And he
had done it quite unconsciously, without any lapse from his habitual
sincerity, or the least change in his becoming attitude of modesty.
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