It was a pity she did not
recall and apply a certain passage in Maggie Tulliver's experience.
"It did not occur to her that her irritation was due to the pleasanter
emotion which preceded it, just as when we are satisfied with a sense of
glowing warmth, an innocent drop of cold water may fall upon us with a
sudden smart."
Mr. Ronald, searching her face for some clue to the abrupt change in her
voice and manner, saw her cheeks grow white, her lips and chin quiver
painfully.
"You are not well?" he asked, after a second of troubled groping in the
dark.
"O, perfectly." She recollected Martha's injunction, "Never you let on
to 'em, any of your worries. The rich must not be annoyed," and pulled
herself together with a determined mental grip.
"It is good that, being so far away from home, you can be under the
care of your old nurse," observed Mr. Ronald thoughtfully.
"My old nurse," Claire mechanically repeated, preoccupied with her own
painful meditations.
"Martha. It is good, it certainly must be comforting to those who care
for you, to know you are being looked after by so old and trusted a
family servant.
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