"You don't want to go just now ?" Ida flashed another glance at him, and noticed the faint twinkle in his eyes.

She felt almost disconcerted, for it suggested comprehension, and she certainly did not want to go.

She could, it seemed, do nothing to help the man she loved, and, for that matter, she could scarcely encourage or sympathize with him openly, but she would not seek pleasure elsewhere while he fought out the unequal struggle alone.
"No," she said, "I should much rather stay here." "As you like," said Stirling, who shortly afterward departed for the city.
Mrs.Frisingham was a rich widow and a distant connection of Stirling's.

She arrived that day, and on the following day contrived to spend a few minutes alone with Stirling when he came home from business.
"I wanted to take Ida back with me, and I'm a little astonished that she won't hear of it," she said.
"In that case, I'm afraid the notion can't be carried out," said Stirling.
"Isn't it rather a pity ?" suggested the lady.
Stirling seemed to consider this.

The two were old friends, in spite of the fact that Mrs.Frisingham, who now and then spent a few weeks in Montreal, had made several determined attempts to regulate the contractor's domestic affairs.