"Oh, that is nothing," she replied. "My uncle and I get on very well. We never quarrel--I don't call him harsh--he never scolds me. Sometimes I wish somebody in the world loved me, but I cannot say that I particularly wish him to have more affection for me than he has. As a child, I should perhaps have felt the want of attention, only the servants were very kind to me; but when people are long indifferent to us, we grow indifferent to their indifference. It is my uncle's way not to care for women and girls, unless they be ladies that he meets in company. He could not alter, and I have no wish that he should alter, as far as I am concerned. I believe it would merely annoy and frighten me were he to be affectionate towards me now. But you know, Mrs. Pryor, it is scarcely _living_ to measure time as I do at the rectory. The hours pass, and I get them over somehow, but I do not _live_. 
"Oh, my uncle and I get on very well," she replied. "We never quarrel - he never scolds me. Sometimes I wish somebody in the world loved me, but I cannot say that I particularly wish him to have more affection for me. As a child, I should perhaps have felt the lack of attention, only the servants were very kind to me; but when people are long indifferent to us, we grow indifferent to their indifference. My uncle does not care for women and girls, apart from ladies that he meets in company. I have no wish that he should alter. It would merely annoy and frighten me were he to be affectionate towards me now. But you know, Mrs. Pryor, it is scarcely living to measure time as I do at the rectory. The hours pass, and I get through them somehow, but I do not live. 