"Worries! Worries! You call it by a contemptible little name like that, when I am face to face with ruin,--when our whole future is trembling in the balance? Don't you understand that there are things that a man may not do, and that orders may be put upon him which he cannot obey and preserve his self-respect? He may be forced to resign even when he would gladly work his fingers to the bone, if by any fair means he could keep his post?" "Ah-ah!" cried Lilias, with a deep, indrawn breath, as if now, at last, she had come to the real pivot on which the question hung. "Ah, yes, Ned, I understand that if you once get the idea in that romantic head of yours that you are being coerced to do what is not according to your lights, there is an end of all peace until you are undeceived! We have known you so long, remember, and heard all about your college days from Jim. `Don Quixote,' they called you, because you were always taking up high-flown notions of duty. It was delightful at Oxford, and such a good example to the other men; but in business--you can't keep it up in business, Ned! I am only a girl, but I hear people talk, and I know quite well how it is. It is impossible to make a living at all, if you are too particular what you do, and are always stopping to consider other people besides yourself. You say that you were beaten by the other firms when you were managing your father's Works, and now you will let yourself be beaten again, if you give way to these foolish prejudices and scruples." Lilias finished with a breathless gasp, and Ned stood looking down at her in silence. An expression of absolute horror had grown in his eyes as he listened to her words, and now he threw himself down on the chair beside her, and grasped her hands in appeal. "Lilias! Lilias!--don't! Don't speak like that, darling! My little white girl, don't turn pleader against me! You are to be my helpmeet, my good angel, the inspiration of my life; don't begin by wishing me to do less than my best! I am not imagining difficulties--you know I am not--but even if I were, would it not be better to lose something for conscience' sake, than deliberately to sell myself for gain? I am in great perplexity, Lilias, and need all my courage. I beseech you not to discourage me!" His words were, in effect, a repetition of Mrs Rendell's on the same subject, and now, as then, Lilias was shocked into a softer, more unselfish frame of mind. The ready tears started to her eyes, and her voice quivered with emotion. "Indeed, indeed, I long to help you! I would not hinder you for the world. I was trying to reconcile you to your position--to save you, if possible, from worse trouble in the future. I know you will never consent to do what is wrong, but if you are firm and patient, all may still be well. It is worth trying, at least, for if you threw up this post what is to happen next? You would have nothing to do."