"I shall not have my affairs adjusted for
such a change before a week. If you accept, I shall be very
grateful. If you decline, I shall close up my two rear gates, and
go into solitary seclusion. I can cook a meal if I have to."
And she saw that he would do it; saw and wondered still more.
"I shall have to write to Reuther," she murmured. "How soon do you
want my decision?"
"In four days."
"I am too disturbed to thank you, judge. Should--should we have to
keep the gates locked?"
"No. But you would have to keep out unwelcome intruders. And the
rights of my library will have to be respected. In all other
regards I should wish, under these new circumstances, to live as
other people live. I have been very lonely these past twelve
years."
"I will think about it."
"And you may make note of these two conditions: Oliver's name is
not to be mentioned in my hearing, and you and Reuther are to be
known by your real names."
"You would--"
"Yes, madam. No secrecy is to be maintained in future as to your
identity or my reasons for desiring you in my house. I need a
housekeeper and you please me. That you have a past to forget and
Reuther a disappointment to overcome, gives additional point to
the arrangement."
Her answer was:
"I cannot take back what I have said about my determined purpose."
In repeating this, she looked up at him askance.
He smiled. She remembered that smile long after the interview was
over and only its memory remained.
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