And she proceeded to eat a supper
scarcely less substantial than that which had appeased her brother's
appetite. Start not, dear reader; the Princess is only a subordinate
heroine, and happens, moreover, to be a living creature.
'Won't you take a walnut, Miss Vine?' Daniel asked, pushing the
tumbler to the quiet girl, who had scarcely spoken through the meal.
She declined the offered dainty, and at the same time rose from the
table, saying aside to Mrs. Mutimer that she must be going.
'Yes, I suppose you must,' was the reply. 'Shall you have to sit up
with Jane?'
'Not all night, I don't expect.'
Richard likewise left his place, and, when she offered to bid him
good-night, said that he would walk a little way with her. In the
passage above, which was gas-lighted, he found his hat on a nail,
and the two left the house together.
'Don't you really mind?' Emma asked, looking up into his face as
they took their way out of the square.
'Not I! I can get a job at Baldwin's any day. But I dare say I
shan't want one long.'
'Not want work?'
He laughed.
'Work? Oh, plenty of work; but perhaps not the same kind. We want
men who can give their whole time to the struggle--to go about
lecturing and the like. Of course, it isn't everybody can do it.'
The remark indicated his belief that he knew one man not incapable
of leading functions.
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