At the end of her story he tried to persuade her to come to the sea
with him and seek amusement there. But he failed; she would not leave
the seat. He gathered, indeed, from her fear of vexing her uncle that
that bad hat was in the habit of slapping her if she angered him, and,
for a breath, he was filled with a fierce indignation which surprised
him; she looked so frail. But he did not ask her if it were so, for
his delicacy forewarned him that the question would provoke a struggle
between her loyalty and her truthfulness. He entertained her,
therefore, with his reminiscences, and enjoyed to the full the
admiration and wonder which filled her face as he talked. Absorbed in
one another, they paid no heed to the passing of the hours; and the
sudden fall of twilight surprised them.
They began to speculate whether Uncle Richard had had enough of his
gambling, and would come and fetch her. But, even now, Elsie was not
impatient, so inured had she been to neglect. She only looked anxious
again. Tinker, on the other hand, was impatient, very impatient, with
Uncle Richard, whom he was disposed to regard as a gentleman in great
need of a kicking. Moreover, the chill hour after sunset, so dangerous
on that littoral, was upon them, and he considered with disquiet the
thin stuff of the child's frock.
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