“That makes it,” said Bella, “so very difficult to speak of him. But⁠—. Does he treat you well?”

“You see how he treats me,” the Secretary answered, with a patient and yet proud air.

“Yes, and I see it with pain,” said Bella, very energetically.

The Secretary gave her such a radiant look, that if he had thanked her a hundred times, he could not have said as much as the look said.

“I see it with pain,” repeated Bella, “and it often makes me miserable. Miserable, because I cannot bear to be supposed to approve of it, or have any indirect share in it. Miserable, because I cannot bear to be forced to admit to myself that Fortune is spoiling Mr. Boffin.”