Mr. Rodrigg himself good-humoredly introduced the subject of the bill one evening in the smoking-room, and they talked of it amicably and impersonally for a little while. But after this talk Sir Arthur said to Camelia--
"I see very plainly where he stands. He will be firmly against me; his reticence doesn't conceal that."
"Are you sure?" asked Camelia. She herself was not at all sure. In a walk with Mr. Rodrigg that morning she had certainly observed promising leaf-blades break the stiff soil of his non-committal attitude. Camelia did not imagine that her own beaming smile might well allure those vernal symptoms.
"Quite sure," said Sir Arthur, who was really getting rather tired of Mr. Rodrigg and his utility, "and--now that I won't see you again until next Thursday--won't you talk of something as far removed from the bill as possible."
"That would be a very uninteresting something," said Camelia. "No, I can think of nothing but politics just now. Whose fault is that, pray? Did you see the report Mr. Dobson sent me this morning? You don't want to see it! Fie, you lukewarm reformer. Now pray be patient--we will talk of something else on Thursday, perhaps." So she warded him off, conscious always of that trembling retreat when the momentous question approached her. She was almost glad when Sir Arthur was gone again. At all events, she would make a good fight for his cause whether or no she accepted him.
"And you are on our side too, are you not?" she said to Perior, for Perior, more silent than ever, and revolving inner cogitations on his own laxity, still made an almost daily visit.
"And you will support us in the _Friday_."
"But not because I ask you!" laughed Camelia, who still felt a little soreness since that uncomfortable interview where she had so much surprised herself. She was still rather resentful, and sorry that her tears might have implied confession. She was conscious now of a touch of defiance behind the light smiling of her eyes as he owned that her asking formed no compulsory element in his decision.
"Don't you think that Mr. Rodrigg may be malleable?" Camelia pursued, "Sir Arthur is to convert him, you know."
"You or Sir Arthur?" She laughed at this. "Would it be terribly wicked if I tried my hand at it?"