He added to himself that Lavender knew little of the value of the wife he had got, but he dared not say that to Sheila, who would suffer no imputation against her husband to be uttered in her presence, however true it might be, or however much she had cause to know it to be true. “And, after all,” he said in a lighter voice, “I think I can do something to mend all this. I will say for Frank Lavender that he is a thoroughly good fellow at heart, and that when you appeal to him, and put things fairly before him, and show him what he ought to do, there is not a more honorable and straightforward man in the world. He has been forgetful, Sheila. He has been led away by these people, you know, and has not been aware of what you were suffering. When I put the matter before him, you will see it will be all right; and I hope to persuade him to give up this constant idling and take to his work, and have something to live for. I wish you and I together could get him to go away from London altogether--get him to take to serious landscape painting on some wild coast--the Galway coast, for example.” “Why not the Lewis?” said Sheila, her heart turning to the North as naturally as the needle. “Or the Lewis. And I should like you and him to live away from hotels and luxuries, and all such things; and he would work all day, and you would do the cooking in some small cottage you could rent, you know.” “You make me so happy in thinking of that,” she said, with her eyes growing well again. “And why should he not do so? There is nothing romantic or idyllic about it, but a good, wholesome, plain sort of life, that is likely to make an honest painter of him, and bring both of you some well-earned money. And you might have a boat like this.” “We are drifting too far in,” said Sheila, suddenly rising. “Shall we go back now?” “By all means,” he said; and so the small boat was put under canvas again, and was soon making way through the breezy water. “Well, all this seems simple enough, doesn’t it?” said Ingram. “Yes,” said the girl, with her face full of hope. “And then, of course, when you are quite comfortable together, and making heaps of money, you can turn around and abuse me, and say I made all the misery to begin with.” “Did we do so before when you were very kind to us?” she said in a low voice. “Oh, but that was different. To interfere on behalf of two young folks who are in love with each other is dangerous, but to interfere between two people who are married--that is a certain quarrel. I wonder what you will say when you are scolding me, Sheila, and bidding me get out of the house? I have never heard you scold. Is it Gaelic or English you prefer?” “I prefer whichever can say the nicest things to my very good friends, and tell them how grateful I am for their kindness to me.” “Ah, well, we’ll see.” When they got back to shore it was half-past one.