'I never thought of Jack!'
Her swift and intent look at him as he said the words could no more
be recalled than a flash of lightning can. But it appeared as
though she would have instantly recalled it, if she could; for she
looked down, confused, and breathed quickly.
'You don't doubt its being a blow to Jack, Rosa?'
She merely replied, and that evasively and hurriedly: Why should
she? She had not thought about it. He seemed, to her, to have so
little to do with it.
'My dear child! can you suppose that any one so wrapped up in
another - Mrs. Tope's expression: not mine - as Jack is in me,
could fail to be struck all of a heap by such a sudden and complete
change in my life? I say sudden, because it will be sudden to HIM,
you know.'
She nodded twice or thrice, and her lips parted as if she would
have assented. But she uttered no sound, and her breathing was no
slower.
'How shall I tell Jack?' said Edwin, ruminating. If he had been
less occupied with the thought, he must have seen her singular
emotion. 'I never thought of Jack. It must be broken to him,
before the town-crier knows it. I dine with the dear fellow to-
morrow and next day - Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - but it
would never do to spoil his feast-days. He always worries about
me, and moddley-coddleys in the merest trifles. The news is sure
to overset him. How on earth shall this be broken to Jack?'
'He must be told, I suppose?' said Rosa.
'My dear Rosa! who ought to be in our confidence, if not Jack?'
'My guardian promised to come down, if I should write and ask him.
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