She really liked the poor child--she had to like somebody.
And, at any rate, she felt she could trust Maisie--she could trust
her not to rook Edward for several thousands a week, for Maisie
had refused to accept so much as a trinket ring from him. It is true
that Edward gurgled and raved about the girl in a way that she had
never yet experienced. But that, too, was almost a relief. I think
she would really have welcomed it if he could have come across
the love of his life. It would have given her a rest.
And there could not have been anyone better than poor little Mrs
Maidan; she was so ill she could not want to be taken on
expensive jaunts. . . . It was Leonora herself who paid Maisie's
expenses to Nauheim. She handed over the money to the boy
husband, for Maisie would never have allowed it; but the husband
was in agonies of fear. Poor devil!
I fancy that, on the voyage from India, Leonora was as happy as
ever she had been in her life. Edward was wrapped up,
completely, in his girl--he was almost like a father with a child,
trotting about with rugs and physic and things, from deck to deck.
He behaved, however, with great circumspection, so that nothing
leaked through to the other passengers.
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