There haven't been many people in my life that I've cared about and I've
never realised anything so intensely before. Besides," he went on laughing
proudly, "he's such a splendid kid! I wish you could see him, Norah. He'll
do something one day--"
"Well, what's the trouble about Stephen?"
"Clare's so odd about him. There are times when I don't believe she cares
for him the least little bit. Then there are other times when she resents
fiercely my interfering about him. Sometimes she seems to love him more
than anything in the world, but it's always in an odd defiant way--just as
though she were afraid that something would hurt her if she showed that she
cared too much."
There was silence between them for a minute and then Peter summed it all up
with:--"The fact is, Norah, that every sort of thing's getting in between
me and my work and worries me. It's as though I were tossing more balls in
the air than I could possibly manage. At one moment I think it's Clare that
I've got especially to hang on to--another time it's the book--and then
it's Stephen. The moment I've settled down something turns up to remind me
of Cornwall or the Bookshop. Fact is I'm getting battered at by something
or other and I never can get my breath. I oughtn't ever to have
married--I'm not up to it."
Norah Monogue took his hand.
"You are up to it, Peter, but I expect you've got a lot to go through
before you're clear of things.
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