"I suppose it's an honest ambition, but isn't the distinction you try to make ridiculous ?" "Perhaps, in a way," Festing agreed.

"All the same, your help makes it my duty to do my best.

I don't want to feel I might be forced to fall back on your dollars." "You are ridiculous, Stephen," Helen rejoined.

"However, let's talk about something else." The talked good-humoredly until the dew and growing cold drove them in.
Next morning Helen got up while the sun rose from behind a bluff on the edge of the plain, but when she went out on the veranda she saw the gasoline tractor and gang-plow lurch across the rise.

This indicated that Festing had been at work for some time, and she looked thoughtful as she went back into the house.
Stephen was doing too much, and she wondered whether he could keep it up.