It was showing him too
plainly the impression that he had left upon her. But he seemed not
to notice it.
"Was he shocked?" he asked.
"Yes--terribly."
She looked at her watch. That moment's regret had brought her to her
senses. The blood came quickly to her face, as she thought how
intimately they had talked within so short a time. Reviewing it--as
with a searchlight that strides across the sky--she scarcely
believed that it was true. In just an hour, she had told him as
much--more than she had told Miss Hallard. Had she changed? Was the
freedom of the life she lived altering her? She had known Mr. Arthur
for a year and a half before he had thought of speaking with any
intimacy to her. The thought that she was deteriorating--becoming
as other women--passed across her mind with a sensation of nausea.
She rose to her feet.
"I must get back," she said.
"But it's only just two," he replied.
"I know, but then I came out five minutes early."
"Are they so fierce as that?"
"Yes, I daren't be late. Mr. Bonsfield gives me his letters directly
after lunch. I think he'd tell me I might go, if I was late. You see
it's very easy for them to get a secretary, the work's not difficult
though there's a lot of it; and there are hundreds of girls who'd
be ready to fill my place in a moment.
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