Palmer. "We know something about the girl, of
course--she used to be a bit too conspicuous, in fact! However,
as you say, we might find a subject more interesting for Arthur."
She smiled whimsically upon the young man. "Tell the truth," she
said. "Don't you fairly detest going into business with that
tyrant yonder?"
"What? Yes--I beg your pardon!" he stammered.
"You were right," Mrs. Palmer said to her husband. "You've
bored him so, talking about thievish clerks, he can't even answer
an honest question."
But Russell was beginning to recover his outward composure. "Try
me again," he said. "I'm afraid I was thinking of something
else."
This was the best he found to say. There was a part of him that
wanted to protest and deny, but he had not heat enough, in the
chill that had come upon him. Here was the first "mention" of
Alice, and with it the reason why it was the first: Mr. Palmer
had difficulty in recalling her, and she happened to be spoken
of, only because her father's betrayal of a benefactor's trust
had been so peculiarly atrocious that, in the view of the
benefactor's family, it contained enough of the element of humour
to warrant a mild laugh at a club. There was the deadliness of
the story: its lack of malice, even of resentment.
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