She owed him everything, so she thought--making no account, as George had done, of labour given in return.

She was only a girl, and what was her labour?
For a while she resolved that she would give a spoken assurance to her uncle that he need fear nothing from her.

It was natural enough to her that her uncle should desire a better marriage for his son.

But after a while she reflected that any speech from her on such a subject would be difficult, and that it would be better that she should hold her tongue.

So she held her tongue, and thought of George, and suffered;--but still was merry, at least in manner, when her uncle spoke to her, and priced the poultry, and counted the linen, and made out the visitors' bills, as though nothing evil had come upon her.