Tom then told her all about his visit to London, its object, and its result.
“Thank heaven that it’s nothing more serious than the loss of a few thousand pounds!” said Jane, with an air of relief, when Tom had done. “Papa will soon get over that, and we shall be as happy again as ever we have been.”
“I am by no means certain that Mr. Culpepper will get over it as easily as you imagine,” said Tom, gravely. “I suspect that the entire savings of many years have gone in this crash; and that alone, to a man of your father’s time of life, is something very serious indeed.”
“Don’t think, Mr. Bristow, that I want to make too light of the loss,” said Jane, earnestly. “Still, after all, it is nothing but money.”
Her spirits had risen wonderfully during the last few minutes, and she could not help showing it. “Dinner will be ready in half an hour,” she added. “I will go and see whether papa is awake.”
Presently she came back. “He is still fast asleep,” she said.
“I think I would not disturb him if I were you,” said Tom. “Sleep, just now, is his best medicine.”
As the Squire still slept on, they dined alone, and alone they spent the evening together. They talked of a thousand things, and they seemed to have a thousand more to talk about when the time for parting had come. This evening Tom seemed to care no longer about hiding his feelings. He sat nearer to Jane, he bent more closely over her at the piano; once or twice his lips seemed to touch her hair lightly, but she was not quite sure on the point, and consequently did not care to reprove him. His eyes sought hers more persistently and boldly than they had ever done before, and beneath those ardent glances her own eyes fell, troubled and confused.
When it was time to go, Jane went with him to the door. Said Tom, as he stood on the threshold, hat in hand, “Should Mr. Culpepper speak to you about what I have told you this evening, and should he seem at all troubled in his mind about it, will you kindly suggest that he should send for me? It may seem rather conceited on my part to ask you to do this, but as your father has honoured me by taking me into his confidence so far, there can be no harm in my expressing a hope that he will do so still further. It may be in my power to help him through his difficulties or, at least, through part of them.”