“Bleak House,” he repeated—and his tone did not sound sorrowful, I found—“must learn to take care of itself. It is a long way from Ada, my dear, and Ada stands much in need of you.”
“It’s like you, guardian,” said I, “to have been taking that into consideration for a happy surprise to both of us.”
“Not so disinterested either, my dear, if you mean to extol me for that virtue, since if you were generally on the road, you could be seldom with me. And besides, I wish to hear as much and as often of Ada as I can in this condition of estrangement from poor Rick. Not of her alone, but of him too, poor fellow.”
“Have you seen Mr. Woodcourt, this morning, guardian?”
“I see Mr. Woodcourt every morning, Dame Durden.”
“Does he still say the same of Richard?”
“Just the same. He knows of no direct bodily illness that he has; on the contrary, he believes that he has none. Yet he is not easy about him; who can be?”
My dear girl had been to see us lately every day, some times twice in a day. But we had foreseen, all along, that this would only last until I was quite myself. We knew full well that her fervent heart was as full of affection and gratitude towards her cousin John as it had ever been, and we acquitted Richard of laying any injunctions upon her to stay away; but we knew on the other hand that she felt it a part of her duty to him to be sparing of her visits at our house. My guardian’s delicacy had soon perceived this and had tried to convey to her that he thought she was right.
“Dear, unfortunate, mistaken Richard,” said I. “When will he awake from his delusion!”