Itis
easier
to
sympathize
with
her
than
exonerate
her
.
She
was
in
a
state
of
intense
impatience
,
and
—
what
is
strange
—
extraordinarily
afraid
that
something
would
separate
her
from
her
lover
if
she
did
not
secure
him
.
She
was
in
a
fever
of
determination
.
She
could
not
eat
or
sleep
or
attend
to
anything
whatever
;
she
was
occupied
altogether
with
the
thought
of
assuring
herself
to
Trafford
.
He
towered
in
her
waking
vision
over
town
and
land
and
sea
.
He
did
n't
hear
the
lies
she
told
;
he
only
knew
she
was
magnificently
coming
back
to
him
.
He
met
her
at
Paddington
,
a
white-faced
,
tired
,
splendidly
resolute
girl
,
and
they
went
to
the
waiting
registrar
's
forthwith
.
She
bore
herself
with
the
intentness
and
dignity
of
one
who
is
taking
the
cardinal
step
in
life
.
They
kissed
as
though
it
was
a
symbol
,
and
were
keenly
business-like
about
cabs
and
luggage
and
trains
.
At
last
they
were
alone
in
the
train
together
.
They
stared
at
one
another
.
"
We
've
done
it
,
Mrs.
Trafford
!
"
said
Trafford
.
She
snapped
like
an
over-taut
string
,
crumpled
,
clung
to
him
,
and
without
a
word
was
weeping
passionately
in
his
arms
.
It
surprised
him
that
she
could
weep
as
she
did
,
and
still
more
to
see
her
as
she
walked
by
his
side
along
the
Folkestone
pier
,
altogether
recovered
,
erect
,
a
little
flushed
and
excited
like
a
child
.
She
seemed
to
miss
nothing
.
"
Oh
,
smell
the
sea
!
"
she
said
,
"
Look
at
the
lights
!
Listen
to
the
swish
of
the
water
below
.
"
She
watched
the
luggage
spinning
on
the
wire
rope
of
the
giant
crane
,
and
he
watched
her
face
and
thought
how
beautiful
she
was
.
He
wondered
why
her
eyes
could
sometimes
be
so
blue
and
sometimes
dark
as
night
.
The
boat
cleared
the
pier
and
turned
about
and
headed
for
France
.
They
walked
the
upper
deck
together
and
stood
side
by
side
,
she
very
close
to
him
.
"
I
've
never
crossed
the
sea
before
,
"
she
said
.
"
Old
England
,
"
she
whispered
.
"
It
's
like
leaving
a
nest
.
A
little
row
of
lights
and
that
's
all
the
world
I
've
ever
known
,
shrunken
to
that
already
.
"
Presently
they
went
forward
and
peered
into
the
night
.
"
Look
!
"
she
said
.
"
Italy
!
There
's
sunshine
and
all
sorts
of
beautiful
things
ahead
.
Warm
sunshine
,
wonderful
old
ruins
,
green
lizards
...
.
"
She
paused
and
whispered
almost
noiselessly
:
"
love
—
—
"
They
pressed
against
each
other
.
"
And
yet
is
n't
it
strange
?
All
you
can
see
is
darkness
,
and
clouds
—
and
big
waves
that
hiss
as
they
come
near
...
.
"
Italy
gave
all
her
best
to
welcome
them
.
It
was
a
late
year
,
a
golden
autumn
,
with
skies
of
such
blue
as
Marjorie
had
never
seen
before
.
They
stayed
at
first
in
a
pretty
little
Italian
hotel
with
a
garden
on
the
lake
,
and
later
they
walked
over
Salvator
to
Morcote
and
by
boat
to
Ponte
Tresa
,
and
thence
they
had
the
most
wonderful
and
beautiful
tramp
in
the
world
to
Luino
,
over
the
hills
by
Castelrotto
.
To
the
left
of
them
all
day
was
a
broad
valley
with
low-lying
villages
swimming
in
a
luminous
mist
,
to
the
right
were
purple
mountains
.
They
passed
through
paved
streets
with
houses
the
colour
of
flesh
and
ivory
,
with
balconies
hung
with
corn
and
gourds
,
with
tall
church
campaniles
rising
high
,
and
great
archways
giving
upon
the
blue
lowlands
;
they
tramped
along
avenues
of
sweet
chestnut
and
between
stretches
of
exuberant
vineyard
,
in
which
men
and
women
were
gathering
grapes
—
purple
grapes
,
a
hatful
for
a
soldo
,
that
rasped
the
tongue
.
Everything
was
strange
and
wonderful
to
Marjorie
's
eyes
;
now
it
would
be
a
wayside
shrine
and
now
a
yoke
of
soft-going
,
dewlapped
oxen
,
now
a
chapel
hung
about
with
ex
votos
,
and
now
some
unfamiliar
cultivation
—
or
a
gipsy-eyed
child
—
or
a
scorpion
that
scuttled
in
the
dust
.
The
very
names
of
the
villages
were
like
jewels
to
her
,
Varasca
,
Croglio
,
Ronca
,
Sesia
,
Monteggio
.
They
walked
,
or
sat
by
the
wayside
and
talked
,
or
rested
at
the
friendly
table
of
some
kindly
albergo
.
A
woman
as
beautiful
as
Ceres
,
with
a
white
neck
all
open
,
made
them
an
omelette
,
and
then
fetched
her
baby
from
its
cradle
to
nurse
it
while
she
talked
to
them
as
they
made
their
meal
.
And
afterwards
she
filled
their
pockets
with
roasted
chestnuts
,
and
sent
them
with
melodious
good
wishes
upon
their
way
.
And
always
high
over
all
against
the
translucent
blue
hung
the
white
shape
of
Monte
Rosa
,
that
warmed
in
colour
as
the
evening
came
.
Marjorie
's
head
was
swimming
with
happiness
and
beauty
,
and
with
every
fresh
delight
she
recurred
again
to
the
crowning
marvel
of
this
clean-limbed
man
beside
her
,
who
smiled
and
carried
all
her
luggage
in
a
huge
rucksack
that
did
not
seem
to
exist
for
him
,
and
watched
her
and
caressed
her
—
and
was
hers
,
hers
!
At
Baveno
there
were
letters
.
They
sat
at
a
little
table
outside
a
café
and
read
them
,
suddenly
mindful
of
England
again
.
Incipient
forgiveness
showed
through
Mrs.
Pope
's
reproaches
,
and
there
was
also
a
simple
,
tender
love-letter
(
there
is
no
other
word
for
it
)
from
old
Mrs.
Trafford
to
her
son
.
From
Baveno
they
set
off
up
Monte
Mottarone
—
whence
one
may
see
the
Alps
from
Visto
to
Ortler
Spitz
—
trusting
to
find
the
inn
still
open
,
and
if
it
was
closed
to
get
down
to
Orta
somehow
before
night
.
Or
at
the
worst
sleep
upon
the
mountain
side
.
(
Monte
Mottarone
!
Just
for
a
moment
taste
the
sweet
Italian
name
upon
your
lips
.
)
These
were
the
days
before
the
funicular
from
Stresa
,
when
one
trudged
up
a
rude
path
through
the
chestnuts
and
walnuts
.
As
they
ascended
the
long
windings
through
the
woods
,
they
met
an
old
poet
and
his
wife
,
coming
down
from
sunset
and
sunrise
.
There
was
a
word
or
two
about
the
inn
,
and
they
went
upon
their
way
.
The
old
man
turned
ever
and
again
to
look
at
them
.
"
Adorable
young
people
,
"
he
said
.
"
Adorable
happy
young
people
...
.
"
Did
you
notice
,
dear
,
how
she
held
that
dainty
little
chin
of
hers
?
...
"
Pride
is
such
a
good
thing
,
my
dear
,
clear
,
straight
pride
like
theirs
—
and
they
were
both
so
proud
!
...
"
Is
n't
it
good
,
dear
,
to
think
that
once
you
and
I
may
have
looked
like
that
to
some
passer-by
.
I
wish
I
could
bless
them
—
sweet
,
swift
young
things
!
I
wish
,
dear
,
it
was
possible
for
old
men
to
bless
young
people
without
seeming
to
set
up
for
saints
...
.
"
BOOK
THE
SECOND
MARJORIE
MARRIED
CHAPTER
THE
FIRST
Settling
Down
It
was
in
a
boat
among
reeds
upon
the
lake
of
Orta
that
Trafford
first
became
familiarized
with
the
idea
that
Marjorie
was
capable
of
debt
.
"
Oh
,
I
ought
to
have
told
you
,
"
she
began
,
apropos
of
nothing
.
Her
explanation
was
airy
;
she
had
let
the
thing
slip
out
of
her
mind
for
a
time
.
But
there
were
various
debts
to
Oxbridge
tradespeople
.
How
much
?
Well
,
rather
a
lot
.
Of
course
,
the
tradespeople
were
rather
enticing
when
first
one
went
up
—
—
How
much
,
anyhow
?
"
Oh
,
about
fifty
pounds
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
after
her
manner
.
"
Not
more
.
I
've
not
kept
all
the
bills
;
and
some
have
n't
come
in
.
You
know
how
slow
they
are
.
"
"
These
things
will
happen
,
"
said
Trafford
,
though
,
as
a
matter
of
fact
,
nothing
of
the
sort
had
happened
in
his
case
.
"
However
,
you
'll
be
able
to
pay
as
soon
as
you
get
home
,
and
get
them
all
off
your
mind
.
"
"
I
think
fifty
pounds
will
clear
me
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
clinging
to
her
long-established
total
,
"
if
you
'll
let
me
have
that
.
"
"
Oh
,
we
do
n't
do
things
like
that
,
"
said
Trafford
.
"
I
'm
arranging
that
my
current
account
will
be
a
sort
of
joint
account
,
and
your
signature
will
be
as
good
as
mine
—
for
the
purpose
of
drawing
,
at
least
.
You
'll
have
your
own
cheque-book
—
—
"
"
I
do
n't
understand
,
quite
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
You
'll
have
your
own
cheque-book
and
write
cheques
as
you
want
them
.
That
seems
the
simplest
way
to
me
.
"
"
Of
course
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
But
is
n't
this
—
rather
unusual
?
Father
always
used
to
allowance
mother
.
"
"
It
's
the
only
decent
way
according
to
my
ideas
,
"
said
Trafford
.
"
A
man
should
n't
marry
when
he
ca
n't
trust
.
"
"
Of
course
not
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
Something
between
fear
and
compunction
wrung
her
.
"
Do
you
think
you
'd
better
?
"
she
asked
,
very
earnestly
.
"
Better
?
"
"
Do
this
.
"
"
Why
not
?
"
"
It
's
—
it
's
so
generous
.
"
He
did
n't
answer
.
He
took
up
an
oar
and
began
to
push
out
from
among
the
reeds
with
something
of
the
shy
awkwardness
of
a
boy
who
becomes
apprehensive
of
thanks
.
He
stole
a
glance
at
her
presently
and
caught
her
expression
—
there
was
something
very
solemn
and
intent
in
her
eyes
—
and
he
thought
what
a
grave
,
fine
thing
his
Marjorie
could
be
.
But
,
indeed
,
her
state
of
mind
was
quite
exceptionally
confused
.
She
was
disconcerted
—
and
horribly
afraid
of
herself
.
"
Do
you
mean
that
I
can
spend
what
I
like
?
"
asked
Marjorie
.
"
Just
as
I
may
,
"
he
said
.
"
I
wonder
,
"
said
Marjorie
again
,
"
if
I
'd
better
.
"
She
was
tingling
with
delight
at
this
freedom
,
and
she
knew
she
was
not
fit
for
its
responsibility
.
She
just
came
short
of
a
passionate
refusal
of
his
proposal
.
He
was
still
so
new
to
her
,
and
things
were
so
wonderful
,
or
I
think
she
would
have
made
that
refusal
.
"
You
've
got
to
,
"
said
Trafford
,
and
ended
the
matter
.
So
Marjorie
was
silent
—
making
good
resolutions
.
Perhaps
some
day
it
may
be
possible
to
tell
in
English
again
,
in
the
language
of
Shakspeare
and
Herrick
,
of
the
passion
,
the
tenderness
,
the
beauty
,
and
the
delightful
familiarizations
of
a
happy
honeymoon
;
suffice
it
now
,
in
this
delicate
period
,
to
record
only
how
our
two
young
lovers
found
one
day
that
neither
had
a
name
for
the
other
.
He
said
she
could
be
nothing
better
than
Marjorie
to
him
;
and
she
,
after
a
number
of
unsuccessful
experiments
,
settled
down
to
the
old
school-boy
nickname
made
out
of
his
initials
,
R
.
A
.
G
.
"
Dick
,
"
she
said
,
"
is
too
bird-like
and
boy-like
.
Andrew
I
ca
n't
abide
.
Goodwin
gives
one
no
chances
for
current
use
.
Rag
you
must
be
.
Mag
and
Rag
—
poor
innocents
!
Old
rag
!
"
"
Mag
,
"
he
said
,
"
has
its
drawbacks
!
The
street-boy
in
London
says
,
'
Shut
your
mag
.
'
No
,
I
think
I
shall
stick
to
Marjorie
...
.
"
All
honeymoons
must
end
at
last
,
so
back
they
came
to
London
,
still
very
bright
and
happy
.
And
then
,
Marjorie
,
whose
eyes
had
changed
from
flashing
stones
to
darkly
shining
pools
of
blue
,
but
whose
soul
had
still
perhaps
to
finds
its
depths
,
set
herself
to
the
business
of
decorating
and
furnishing
the
little
house
Mrs.
Trafford
had
found
for
them
within
ten
minutes
of
her
own
.
Meanwhile
they
lived
in
lodgings
.
There
can
be
no
denying
that
Marjorie
began
her
furnishing
with
severely
virtuous
intentions
.
She
was
very
particular
to
ask
Trafford
several
times
what
he
thought
she
might
spend
upon
the
enterprise
.
He
had
already
a
bedroom
and
a
study
equipped
,
and
he
threw
out
three
hundred
pounds
as
his
conception
of
an
acceptable
figure
.
"
Very
well
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
with
a
note
of
great
precision
,
"
now
I
shall
know
,
"
and
straightway
that
sum
took
a
place
in
her
imagination
that
was
at
once
definitive
and
protective
,
just
as
her
estimate
of
fifty
pounds
for
her
Oxbridge
debts
had
always
been
.
She
assured
herself
she
was
going
to
do
things
,
and
she
assured
herself
she
was
doing
things
,
on
three
hundred
pounds
.
At
times
the
astonishment
of
two
or
three
school
friends
,
who
joined
her
in
her
shopping
,
stirred
her
to
a
momentary
surprise
at
the
way
she
was
managing
to
keep
things
within
that
limit
,
and
following
a
financial
method
that
had
,
after
all
,
in
spite
of
some
momentary
and
already
nearly
forgotten
distresses
,
worked
very
well
at
Oxbridge
,
she
refrained
from
any
additions
until
all
the
accounts
had
come
to
hand
.
It
was
an
immense
excitement
shopping
to
make
a
home
.
There
was
in
her
composition
a
strain
of
constructive
artistry
with
such
concrete
things
,
a
strain
that
had
hitherto
famished
.
She
was
making
a
beautiful
,
secure
little
home
for
Trafford
,
for
herself
,
for
possibilities
—
remote
perhaps
,
but
already
touching
her
imagination
with
the
anticipation
of
warm
,
new
,
wonderful
delights
.
There
should
be
simplicity
indeed
in
this
home
,
but
no
bareness
,
no
harshness
,
never
an
ugliness
nor
a
discord
.
She
had
always
loved
colour
in
the
skies
,
in
the
landscapes
,
in
the
texture
of
stuffs
and
garments
;
now
out
of
the
chaotic
skein
of
countless
shops
she
could
choose
and
pick
and
mingle
her
threads
in
a
glow
of
feminine
self-expression
.
On
three
hundred
pounds
,
that
is
to
say
—
as
a
maximum
.
The
house
she
had
to
deal
with
was
,
like
Mrs.
Trafford
's
,
old
and
rather
small
;
it
was
partly
to
its
lack
of
bedroom
accommodation
,
but
much
more
to
the
invasion
of
the
street
by
the
back
premises
of
Messrs.
Siddons
+
Thrale
,
the
great
Chelsea
outfitters
,
that
the
lowness
of
the
rent
was
due
,
a
lowness
which
brought
it
within
the
means
of
Trafford
.
Marjorie
knew
very
clearly
that
her
father
would
say
her
husband
had
taken
her
to
live
in
a
noisy
slum
,
and
that
made
her
all
the
keener
to
ensure
that
every
good
point
in
the
interior
told
to
its
utmost
,
and
that
whatever
was
to
be
accessible
to
her
family
should
glow
with
a
refined
but
warm
prosperity
.
The
room
downstairs
was
shapely
,
and
by
ripping
off
the
papered
canvas
of
the
previous
occupier
,
some
very
dilapidated
but
admirably
proportioned
panelling
was
brought
to
light
.
The
dining-room
and
study
door
on
the
ground
floor
,
by
a
happy
accident
,
were
of
mahogany
,
with
really
very
beautiful
brass
furnishings
;
and
the
dining-room
window
upon
the
minute
but
by
no
means
offensive
paved
garden
behind
,
was
curved
and
had
a
little
shallow
balcony
of
ironwork
,
half
covered
by
a
devitalized
but
leafy
grapevine
.
Moreover
,
the
previous
occupier
had
equipped
the
place
with
electric
light
and
a
bathroom
of
almost
American
splendour
on
the
landing
,
glass-shelved
,
white-tiled
,
and
white
painted
,
so
that
it
was
a
delight
to
go
into
.
Marjorie
's
mind
leapt
very
rapidly
to
the
possibilities
of
this
little
establishment
.
The
panelling
must
be
done
and
done
well
,
anyhow
;
that
would
be
no
more
than
a
wise
economy
,
seeing
it
might
at
any
time
help
them
to
re-let
;
it
would
be
painted
white
,
of
course
,
and
thus
set
the
key
for
a
clean
brightness
of
colour
throughout
.
The
furniture
would
stand
out
against
the
softly
shining
white
,
and
its
line
and
proportions
must
be
therefore
the
primary
qualities
to
consider
as
she
bought
it
.
The
study
was
much
narrower
than
the
dining-room
,
and
so
the
passage
,
which
the
agent
called
the
hall
,
was
much
broader
and
more
commodious
behind
the
happily
wide
staircase
than
in
front
,
and
she
was
able
to
banish
out
of
the
sight
of
the
chance
visitor
all
that
litter
of
hat-stand
and
umbrella-stand
,
letters
,
boxes
arriving
and
parcels
to
post
,
which
had
always
offended
her
eye
at
home
.
At
home
there
had
been
often
the
most
unsightly
things
visible
,
one
of
Theo
's
awful
caps
,
or
his
school
books
,
and
not
infrequently
her
father
's
well-worn
and
all
too
fatally
comfortable
house
slippers
.
A
good
effect
at
first
is
half
the
victory
of
a
well
done
house
,
and
Marjorie
accomplished
another
of
her
real
economies
here
by
carpeting
hall
and
staircase
with
a
fine-toned
,
rich-feeling
and
rather
high-priced
blue
carpet
,
held
down
by
very
thick
brass
stair-rods
.
She
hung
up
four
well-chosen
steel
engravings
,
put
a
single
Chippendale
chair
in
the
hall
,
and
a
dark
old
Dutch
clock
that
had
turned
out
to
be
only
five
pounds
when
she
had
expected
the
shopman
to
say
eleven
or
twelve
,
on
the
half-landing
.
That
was
all
.
Round
the
corner
by
the
study
door
was
a
mahogany
slab
,
and
the
litter
all
went
upon
a
capacious
but
very
simple
dark-stained
hat-stand
and
table
that
were
out
of
the
picture
entirely
until
you
reached
the
stairs
.
Her
dining-room
was
difficult
for
some
time
.
She
had
equipped
that
with
a
dark
oak
Welsh
dresser
made
very
bright
with
a
dessert
service
that
was
,
in
view
of
its
extremely
decorative
quality
,
remarkably
cheap
,
and
with
some
very
pretty
silver-topped
glass
bottles
and
flasks
.
This
dresser
and
a
number
of
simple
but
shapely
facsimiles
of
old
chairs
,
stood
out
against
a
nearly
primrose
paper
,
very
faintly
patterned
,
and
a
dark
blue
carpet
with
a
margin
of
dead
black-stained
wood
.
Over
the
mantel
was
a
German
colour-print
of
waves
full
of
sunlight
breaking
under
cliffs
,
and
between
this
and
the
window
were
dark
bookshelves
and
a
few
bright-coloured
books
.
On
the
wall
,
black-framed
,
were
four
very
good
Japanese
prints
,
rich
in
greenish-blues
and
blueish-greys
that
answered
the
floor
,
and
the
window
curtains
took
up
some
of
the
colours
of
the
German
print
.
But
something
was
needed
towards
the
window
,
she
felt
,
to
balance
the
warmly
shining
plates
upon
the
dresser
.
The
deep
rose-red
of
the
cherries
that
adorned
them
was
too
isolated
,
usurped
too
dominating
a
value
.
And
while
this
was
weighing
upon
her
mind
she
saw
in
a
window
in
Regent
Street
a
number
of
Bokhara
hangings
very
nobly
displayed
.
They
were
splendid
pieces
of
needlework
,
particularly
glorious
in
their
crimsons
and
reds
,
and
suddenly
it
came
to
her
that
it
was
just
one
of
these
,
one
that
had
great
ruby
flowers
upon
it
with
dead-blue
interlacings
,
that
was
needed
to
weld
her
gay-coloured
scheme
together
.
She
hesitated
,
went
half-way
to
Piccadilly
Circus
,
turned
back
and
asked
the
prices
.
The
prices
were
towering
prices
,
ten
,
fifteen
,
eighteen
guineas
,
and
when
at
last
the
shopman
produced
one
with
all
the
charm
of
colour
she
sought
at
eight
,
it
seemed
like
ten
guineas
snatched
back
as
they
dropped
from
her
hands
.
And
still
hesitating
,
she
had
three
that
pleased
her
most
sent
home
,
"
on
approval
,
"
before
she
decided
finally
to
purchase
one
of
them
.
But
the
trial
was
conclusive
.
And
then
,
struck
with
a
sudden
idea
,
she
carried
off
a
long
narrow
one
she
had
had
no
idea
of
buying
before
into
the
little
study
behind
.
Suppose
,
she
thought
,
instead
of
hanging
two
curtains
as
anybody
else
would
do
in
that
window
,
she
ran
this
glory
of
rich
colour
across
from
one
side
on
a
great
rod
of
brass
.
She
was
giving
the
study
the
very
best
of
her
attention
.
After
she
had
lapsed
in
some
other
part
of
the
house
from
the
standards
of
rigid
economy
she
had
set
up
,
she
would
as
it
were
restore
the
balance
by
adding
something
to
the
gracefully
dignified
arrangement
of
this
den
he
was
to
use
.
And
the
brass
rod
of
the
Bokhara
hanging
that
was
to
do
instead
of
curtains
released
her
mind
somehow
to
the
purchase
of
certain
old
candlesticks
she
had
hitherto
resisted
.
They
were
to
stand
,
bored
to
carry
candle
electric
lights
,
on
either
corner
of
the
low
bookcase
that
faced
the
window
.
They
were
very
heavy
,
very
shapely
candlesticks
,
and
they
cost
thirty-five
shillings
.
They
looked
remarkably
well
when
they
were
put
up
,
except
that
a
sort
of
hollowness
appeared
between
them
and
clamoured
for
a
delightful
old
brass-footed
workbox
she
had
seen
in
a
shop
in
Baker
Street
.
Enquiry
confirmed
her
quick
impression
that
this
was
a
genuine
piece
(
of
quite
exceptional
genuineness
)
and
that
the
price
—
they
asked
five
pounds
ten
and
came
down
to
five
guineas
—
was
in
accordance
with
this
.
It
was
a
little
difficult
(
in
spite
of
the
silent
hunger
between
the
candlesticks
)
to
reconcile
this
particular
article
with
her
dominating
idea
of
an
austerely
restrained
expenditure
,
until
she
hit
upon
the
device
of
calling
it
a
hors
d'œuvre
,
and
regarding
it
not
as
furniture
but
as
a
present
from
herself
to
Trafford
that
happened
to
fall
in
very
agreeably
with
the
process
of
house
furnishing
.
She
decided
she
would
some
day
economise
its
cost
out
of
her
dress
allowance
.
The
bookcase
on
which
it
stood
was
a
happy
discovery
in
Kensington
,
just
five
feet
high
,
and
with
beautiful
oval
glass
fronts
,
and
its
capacity
was
supplemented
and
any
excess
in
its
price
at
least
morally
compensated
by
a
very
tall
,
narrow
,
distinguished-looking
set
of
open
shelves
that
had
been
made
for
some
special
corner
in
another
house
,
and
which
anyhow
were
really
and
truly
dirt
cheap
.
The
desk
combined
grace
and
good
proportions
to
an
admirable
extent
,
the
fender
of
pierced
brass
looked
as
if
it
had
always
lived
in
immediate
contact
with
the
shapely
old
white
marble
fireplace
,
and
the
two
arm-chairs
were
marvels
of
dignified
comfort
.
By
the
fireplace
were
a
banner-shaped
needlework
firescreen
,
a
white
sheepskin
hearthrug
,
a
little
patch
and
powder
table
adapted
to
carry
books
,
and
a
green-shaded
lamp
,
grouped
in
a
common
inaudible
demand
for
a
reader
in
slippers
.
Trafford
,
when
at
last
the
apartment
was
ready
for
his
inspection
,
surveyed
these
arrangements
with
a
kind
of
dazzled
admiration
.
"
By
Jove
!
"
he
said
.
"
How
little
people
know
of
the
homes
of
the
Poor
!
"
Marjorie
was
so
delighted
with
his
approval
that
she
determined
to
show
Mrs.
Trafford
next
day
how
prettily
at
least
her
son
was
going
to
live
.
The
good
lady
came
and
admired
everything
,
and
particularly
the
Bokhara
hangings
.
She
did
not
seem
to
appraise
,
but
something
set
Marjorie
talking
rather
nervously
of
a
bargain-hunter
's
good
fortune
.
Mrs.
Trafford
glanced
at
the
candlesticks
and
the
low
bookcase
,
and
returned
to
the
glowing
piece
of
needlework
that
formed
the
symmetrical
window
curtain
in
the
study
.
She
took
it
in
her
hand
,
and
whispered
,
"
beautiful
!
"
"
But
are
n't
these
rather
good
?
"
asked
Mrs.
Trafford
.
Marjorie
answered
,
after
a
little
pause
.
"
They
're
not
too
good
for
him
,
"
she
said
.
And
now
these
young
people
had
to
resume
life
in
London
in
earnest
.
The
orchestral
accompaniment
of
the
world
at
large
began
to
mingle
with
their
hitherto
unsustained
duet
.
It
had
been
inaudible
in
Italy
.
In
Chelsea
it
had
sounded
,
faintly
perhaps
but
distinctly
,
from
their
very
first
inspection
of
the
little
house
.
A
drawing-room
speaks
of
callers
,
a
dining-room
of
lunch-parties
and
dinners
.
It
had
swayed
Marjorie
from
the
front
door
inward
.
During
their
honeymoon
they
had
been
gloriously
unconscious
of
comment
.
Now
Marjorie
began
to
show
herself
keenly
sensitive
to
the
advent
of
a
score
of
personalities
,
and
very
anxious
to
show
just
how
completely
successful
in
every
sense
her
romantic
disobedience
had
been
.
She
knew
she
had
been
approved
of
,
admired
,
condemned
,
sneered
at
,
thoroughly
discussed
.
She
felt
it
her
first
duty
to
Trafford
,
to
all
who
had
approved
of
her
flight
,
to
every
one
,
herself
included
,
to
make
this
marriage
obviously
,
indisputably
,
a
success
,
a
success
not
only
by
her
own
standards
but
by
the
standards
of
anyonesoever
who
chose
to
sit
in
judgment
on
her
.
There
was
Trafford
.
She
felt
she
had
to
extort
the
admission
from
every
one
that
he
was
the
handsomest
,
finest
,
ablest
,
most
promising
and
most
delightful
man
a
prominent
humorist
was
ever
jilted
for
.
She
wanted
them
to
understand
clearly
just
all
that
Trafford
was
—
and
that
involved
,
she
speedily
found
in
practice
,
making
them
believe
a
very
great
deal
that
as
yet
Trafford
was
n't
.
She
found
it
practically
impossible
not
to
anticipate
his
election
to
the
Royal
Society
and
the
probability
of
a
more
important
professorship
.
She
felt
that
anyhow
he
was
an
F.R.S.
in
the
sight
of
God
...
.
It
was
almost
equally
difficult
not
to
indicate
a
larger
income
than
facts
justified
.
It
was
entirely
in
Marjorie
's
vein
in
those
early
days
that
she
would
want
to
win
on
every
score
and
by
every
standard
of
reckoning
.
If
Marjorie
had
been
a
general
she
would
have
counted
no
victory
complete
if
the
struggle
was
not
sustained
and
desperate
,
and
if
it
left
the
enemy
with
a
single
gun
or
flag
,
or
herself
with
so
much
as
a
man
killed
or
wounded
.
The
people
she
wanted
to
impress
varied
very
widely
.
She
wanted
to
impress
the
Carmel
girls
,
and
the
Carmel
girls
,
she
knew
,
with
their
racial
trick
of
acute
appraisement
,
were
only
to
be
won
by
the
very
highest
quality
all
round
.
They
had
,
she
knew
,
two
standards
of
quality
,
cost
and
distinction
.
As
far
as
possible
,
she
would
give
them
distinction
.
But
whenever
she
hesitated
over
something
on
the
verge
of
cheapness
the
thought
of
those
impending
judgments
tipped
the
balance
.
The
Carmel
girls
were
just
two
influential
representatives
of
a
host
.
She
wanted
to
impress
quite
a
number
of
other
school
and
college
friends
.
There
were
various
shy
,
plastic-spirited
,
emotional
creatures
,
of
course
,
for
the
most
part
with
no
confidence
in
their
own
appearance
,
who
would
be
impressed
quite
adequately
enough
by
Trafford
's
good
looks
and
witty
manner
and
easy
temper
.
They
might
perhaps
fall
in
love
with
him
and
become
slavish
to
her
after
the
way
of
their
kind
,
and
anyhow
they
would
be
provided
for
,
but
there
were
plenty
of
others
of
a
harder
texture
whose
tests
would
be
more
difficult
to
satisfy
.
There
were
girls
who
were
the
daughters
of
prominent
men
,
who
must
be
made
to
understand
that
Trafford
was
prominent
,
girls
who
were
well
connected
,
who
must
be
made
to
realize
the
subtle
excellence
of
Trafford
's
blood
.
As
she
thought
of
Constance
Graham
,
for
example
,
or
Ottiline
Winchelsea
,
she
felt
the
strongest
disposition
to
thicken
the
by
no
means
well
authenticated
strands
that
linked
Trafford
with
the
Traffords
of
Trafford-over-Lea
.
She
went
about
the
house
dreaming
a
little
apprehensively
of
these
coming
calls
,
and
the
pitiless
light
of
criticism
they
would
bring
to
bear
,
not
indeed
upon
her
happiness
—
that
was
assured
—
but
upon
her
success
.
The
social
side
of
the
position
would
have
to
be
strained
to
the
utmost
,
Marjorie
felt
,
with
Aunt
Plessington
.
The
thought
of
Aunt
Plessington
made
her
peculiarly
apprehensive
.
Aunt
Plessington
had
to
the
fullest
extent
that
contempt
for
merely
artistic
or
scientific
people
which
sits
so
gracefully
upon
the
administrative
English
.
You
see
people
of
that
sort
do
not
get
on
in
the
sense
that
a
young
lawyer
or
barrister
gets
on
.
They
do
not
make
steps
;
they
boast
and
quarrel
and
are
jealous
perhaps
,
but
that
steady
patient
shove
upward
seems
beyond
their
intelligence
.
The
energies
God
manifestly
gave
them
for
shoving
,
they
dissipate
in
the
creation
of
weak
beautiful
things
and
unremunerative
theories
,
or
in
the
establishment
of
views
sometimes
diametrically
opposed
to
the
ideas
of
influential
people
.
And
they
are
"
queer
"
—
socially
.
They
just
moon
about
doing
this
so-called
"
work
"
of
theirs
,
and
even
when
the
judgment
of
eccentric
people
forces
a
kind
of
reputation
upon
them
—
Heaven
knows
why
?
—
they
make
no
public
or
social
use
of
it
.
It
seemed
to
Aunt
Plessington
that
the
artist
and
the
scientific
man
were
dealt
with
very
neatly
and
justly
in
the
Parable
of
the
Buried
Talent
.
Moreover
their
private
lives
were
often
scandalous
,
they
married
for
love
instead
of
interest
,
often
quite
disadvantageously
,
and
their
relationships
had
all
the
instability
that
is
natural
upon
such
a
foundation
.
And
,
after
all
,
what
good
were
they
?
She
had
never
met
an
artist
or
a
prominent
imaginative
writer
or
scientific
man
that
she
had
not
been
able
to
subdue
in
a
minute
or
so
by
flat
contradiction
,
and
if
necessary
slightly
raising
her
voice
.
They
had
little
or
no
influence
even
upon
their
own
public
appointments
...
.
The
thought
of
the
invasion
of
her
agreeable
little
back
street
establishment
by
this
Britannic
system
of
judgments
filled
Marjorie
's
heart
with
secret
terrors
.
She
felt
she
had
to
grapple
with
and
overcome
Aunt
Plessington
,
or
be
for
ever
fallen
—
at
least
,
so
far
as
that
amiable
lady
's
report
went
,
and
she
knew
it
went
pretty
far
.
She
wandered
about
the
house
trying
to
imagine
herself
Aunt
Plessington
.
Immediately
she
felt
the
gravest
doubts
whether
the
whole
thing
was
n't
too
graceful
and
pretty
.
A
rich
and
rather
massive
ugliness
,
of
course
,
would
have
been
the
thing
to
fetch
Aunt
Plessington
.
Happily
,
it
was
Aunt
Plessington
's
habit
to
veil
her
eyes
with
her
voice
.
She
might
not
see
very
much
.
The
subjugation
of
Aunt
Plessington
was
difficult
,
but
not
altogether
hopeless
,
Marjorie
felt
,
provided
her
rejection
of
Magnet
had
not
been
taken
as
an
act
of
personal
ingratitude
.
There
was
a
case
on
her
side
.
She
was
discovering
,
for
example
,
that
Trafford
had
a
really
very
considerable
range
of
acquaintance
among
quite
distinguished
people
;
big
figures
like
Evesham
and
MacHaldo
,
for
example
,
were
intelligently
interested
in
the
trend
of
his
work
.
She
felt
this
gave
her
a
basis
for
Plessingtonian
justifications
.
She
could
produce
those
people
—
as
one
shows
one
's
loot
.
She
could
imply
,
"
Oh
,
Love
and
all
that
nonsense
!
Certainly
not
!
This
is
what
I
did
it
for
.
"
With
skill
and
care
and
good
luck
,
and
a
word
here
and
there
in
edgeways
,
she
believed
she
might
be
able
to
represent
the
whole
adventure
as
the
well-calculated
opening
of
a
campaign
on
soundly
Plessingtonian
lines
.
Her
marriage
to
Trafford
,
she
tried
to
persuade
herself
,
might
be
presented
as
something
almost
as
brilliant
and
startling
as
her
aunt
's
swoop
upon
her
undistinguished
uncle
.
She
might
pretend
that
all
along
she
had
seen
her
way
to
things
,
to
coveted
dinner-tables
and
the
familiarity
of
coveted
guests
,
to
bringing
people
together
and
contriving
arrangements
,
to
influence
and
prominence
,
to
culminations
and
intrigues
impossible
in
the
comparatively
specialized
world
of
a
successful
humorist
and
playwright
,
and
so
at
last
to
those
high
freedoms
of
authoritative
and
if
necessary
offensive
utterance
in
a
strangulated
contralto
,
and
from
a
position
of
secure
eminence
,
which
is
the
goal
of
all
virtuously
ambitious
Englishwomen
of
the
governing
classes
—
that
is
to
say
,
of
all
virtuously
ambitious
Englishwomen
...
.
And
while
such
turbid
solicitudes
as
these
were
flowing
in
again
from
the
London
world
to
which
she
had
returned
,
and
fouling
the
bright
,
romantic
clearness
of
Marjorie
's
life
,
Trafford
,
in
his
ampler
,
less
detailed
way
was
also
troubled
about
their
coming
re-entry
into
society
.
He
,
too
,
had
his
old
associations
.
For
example
,
he
was
by
no
means
confident
of
the
favourable
judgments
of
his
mother
upon
Marjorie
's
circle
of
school
and
college
friends
,
whom
he
gathered
from
Marjorie
's
talk
were
destined
to
play
a
large
part
in
this
new
phase
of
his
life
.
She
had
given
him
very
ample
particulars
of
some
of
them
;
and
he
found
them
interesting
rather
than
richly
attractive
personalities
.
It
is
to
be
noted
that
while
he
thought
always
of
Marjorie
as
a
beautiful
,
grown-up
woman
,
and
his
mate
and
equal
,
he
was
still
disposed
to
regard
her
intimate
friends
as
schoolgirls
of
an
advanced
and
aggressive
type
...
.
Then
that
large
circle
of
distinguished
acquaintances
which
Marjorie
saw
so
easily
and
amply
utilized
for
the
subjugation
of
Aunt
Plessington
did
n't
present
itself
quite
in
that
service
to
Trafford
's
private
thoughts
.
He
had
n't
that
certitude
of
command
over
them
,
nor
that
confidence
in
their
unhesitating
approval
of
all
he
said
and
did
.
Just
as
Marjorie
wished
him
to
shine
in
the
heavens
over
all
her
people
,
so
,
in
regard
to
his
associates
,
he
was
extraordinarily
anxious
that
they
should
realize
,
and
realize
from
the
outset
without
qualification
or
hesitation
,
how
beautiful
,
brave
and
delightful
she
was
.
And
you
know
he
had
already
begun
to
be
aware
of
an
evasive
feeling
in
his
mind
that
at
times
she
did
not
altogether
do
herself
justice
—
he
scarcely
knew
as
yet
how
or
why
...
.
She
was
very
young
...
.
One
or
two
individuals
stood
out
in
his
imagination
,
representatives
and
symbols
of
the
rest
.
Particularly
there
was
that
old
giant
,
Sir
Roderick
Dover
,
who
had
been
,
until
recently
,
the
Professor
of
Physics
in
the
great
Oxford
laboratories
.
Dover
and
Trafford
had
one
of
those
warm
friendships
which
spring
up
at
times
between
a
rich-minded
man
whose
greatness
is
assured
and
a
young
man
of
brilliant
promise
.
It
was
all
the
more
affectionate
because
Dover
had
been
a
friend
of
Trafford
's
father
.
These
two
and
a
group
of
other
careless-minded
,
able
,
distinguished
,
and
uninfluential
men
at
the
Winton
Club
affected
the
end
of
the
smoking-room
near
the
conservatory
in
the
hours
after
lunch
,
and
shared
the
joys
of
good
talk
and
fine
jesting
about
the
big
fireplace
there
.
Under
Dover
's
broad
influence
they
talked
more
ideas
and
less
gossip
than
is
usual
with
English
club
men
.
Twaddle
about
appointments
,
about
reputations
,
topics
from
the
morning
's
papers
,
London
architecture
,
and
the
commerce
in
"
good
stories
"
took
refuge
at
the
other
end
in
the
window
bays
or
by
the
further
fireplace
.
Trafford
only
began
to
realize
on
his
return
to
London
how
large
a
share
this
intermittent
perennial
conversation
had
contributed
to
the
atmosphere
of
his
existence
.
Amidst
the
romantic
circumstances
of
his
flight
with
Marjorie
he
had
forgotten
the
part
these
men
played
in
his
life
and
thoughts
.
Now
he
was
enormously
exercised
in
the
search
for
a
reconciliation
between
these
,
he
felt
,
incommensurable
factors
.
He
was
afraid
of
what
might
be
Sir
Roderick
's
unspoken
judgment
on
Marjorie
and
the
house
she
had
made
—
though
what
was
there
to
be
afraid
of
?
He
was
still
more
afraid
—
and
this
was
even
more
remarkable
—
of
the
clear
little
judgments
—
hard
as
loose
,
small
diamonds
in
a
bed
—
that
he
thought
Marjorie
might
pronounce
on
Sir
Roderick
.
He
had
never
disguised
from
himself
that
Sir
Roderick
was
fat
—
nobody
who
came
within
a
hundred
yards
of
him
could
be
under
any
illusion
about
that
—
and
that
he
drank
a
good
deal
,
ate
with
a
cosmic
spaciousness
,
loved
a
cigar
,
and
talked
and
laughed
with
a
freedom
that
sometimes
drove
delicate-minded
new
members
into
the
corners
remotest
from
the
historical
fireplace
.
Trafford
knew
himself
quite
definitely
that
there
was
a
joy
in
Dover
's
laugh
and
voice
,
a
beauty
in
his
face
(
that
was
somehow
mixed
up
with
his
healthy
corpulence
)
,
and
a
breadth
,
a
charity
,
a
leonine
courage
in
his
mind
(
that
was
somehow
mixed
up
with
his
careless
freedom
of
speech
)
that
made
him
an
altogether
satisfactory
person
.
But
supposing
Marjorie
did
n't
see
any
of
that
!
Still
,
he
was
on
the
verge
of
bringing
Sir
Roderick
home
when
a
talk
at
the
club
one
day
postponed
that
introduction
of
the
two
extremes
of
Trafford
's
existence
for
quite
a
considerable
time
.
Those
were
the
days
of
the
first
enthusiasms
of
the
militant
suffrage
movement
,
and
the
occasional
smashing
of
a
Downing
Street
window
or
an
assault
upon
a
minister
kept
the
question
of
woman
's
distinctive
intelligence
and
character
persistently
before
the
public
.
Godley
Buzard
,
the
feminist
novelist
,
had
been
the
guest
of
some
member
to
lunch
,
and
the
occasion
was
too
provocative
for
any
one
about
Dover
's
fireplace
to
avoid
the
topic
.
Buzard
's
presence
,
perhaps
,
drove
Dover
into
an
extreme
position
on
the
other
side
;
he
forgot
Trafford
's
new-wedded
condition
,
and
handled
this
great
argument
,
an
argument
which
has
scarcely
progressed
since
its
beginning
in
the
days
of
Plato
and
Aristophanes
,
with
the
freedoms
of
an
ancient
Greek
and
the
explicitness
of
a
modern
scientific
man
.
He
opened
almost
apropos
of
nothing
.
"
Women
,
"
he
said
,
"
are
inferior
—
and
you
ca
n't
get
away
from
it
.
"
"
You
can
deny
it
,
"
said
Buzard
.
"
In
the
face
of
the
facts
,
"
said
Sir
Roderick
.
"
To
begin
with
,
they
're
several
inches
shorter
,
several
pounds
lighter
;
they
've
less
physical
strength
in
footpounds
.
"
"
More
endurance
,
"
said
Buzard
.
"
Less
sensitiveness
merely
.
All
those
are
demonstrable
things
—
amenable
to
figures
and
apparatus
.
Then
they
stand
nervous
tensions
worse
,
the
breaking-point
comes
sooner
.
They
have
weaker
inhibitions
,
and
inhibition
is
the
test
of
a
creature
's
position
in
the
mental
scale
.
"
He
maintained
that
in
the
face
of
Buzard
's
animated
protest
.
Buzard
glanced
at
their
moral
qualities
.
"
More
moral
!
"
cried
Dover
,
"
more
self-restraint
!
Not
a
bit
of
it
!
Their
desires
and
passions
are
weaker
even
than
their
controls
;
that
's
all
.
Weaken
restraints
and
they
show
their
quality
.
A
drunken
woman
is
far
worse
than
a
drunken
man
.
And
as
for
their
biological
significance
—
—
"
"
They
are
the
species
,
"
said
Buzard
,
"
and
we
are
the
accidents
.
"
"
They
are
the
stolon
and
we
are
the
individualized
branches
.
They
are
the
stem
and
we
are
the
fruits
.
Surely
it
's
better
to
exist
than
just
transmit
existence
.
And
that
's
a
woman
's
business
,
though
we
've
fooled
and
petted
most
of
'
em
into
forgetting
it
...
.
"
He
proceeded
to
an
attack
on
the
intellectual
quality
of
women
.
He
scoffed
at
the
woman
artist
,
at
feminine
research
,
at
what
he
called
the
joke
of
feminine
philosophy
.
Buzard
broke
in
with
some
sentences
of
reply
.
He
alleged
the
lack
of
feminine
opportunity
,
inferior
education
.
"
You
do
n't
or
wo
n't
understand
me
,
"
said
Dover
.
"
It
is
n't
a
matter
of
education
or
opportunity
,
or
simply
that
they
're
of
inferior
capacity
;
it
lies
deeper
than
that
.
They
do
n't
want
to
do
these
things
.
They
're
different
.
"
"
Precisely
,
"
ejaculated
Buzard
,
as
if
he
claimed
a
score
.
"
They
do
n't
care
for
these
things
.
They
do
n't
care
for
art
or
philosophy
,
or
literature
or
anything
except
the
things
that
touch
them
directly
.
That
's
their
peculiar
difference
.
Hunger
they
understand
,
and
comfort
,
and
personal
vanity
and
desire
,
furs
and
chocolate
and
husbands
,
and
the
extreme
importance
conferred
upon
them
by
having
babies
at
infrequent
intervals
.
But
philosophy
or
beauty
for
its
own
sake
,
or
dreams
!
Lord
!
no
!
The
Mahometans
know
they
have
n't
souls
,
and
they
say
it
.
We
know
,
and
keep
it
up
that
they
have
.
Have
n't
all
we
scientific
men
had
'
em
in
our
laboratories
working
;
do
n't
we
know
the
papers
they
turn
out
?
Every
sane
man
of
five
and
forty
knows
something
of
the
disillusionment
of
the
feminine
dream
,
but
we
who
've
had
the
beautiful
creatures
under
us
,
weighing
rather
badly
,
handling
rather
weakly
,
invariably
missing
every
fine
detail
and
all
the
implications
of
our
researches
,
never
flashing
,
never
leaping
,
never
being
even
thoroughly
bad
,
—
we
're
specialists
in
the
subject
.
At
the
present
time
there
are
far
more
educated
young
women
than
educated
young
men
available
for
research
work
—
and
who
wants
them
?
Oh
,
the
young
professors
who
've
still
got
ideals
perhaps
.
And
in
they
come
,
and
if
they
're
dull
,
they
just
voluminously
do
nothing
,
and
if
they
're
bright
,
they
either
marry
your
demonstrator
or
get
him
into
a
mess
.
And
the
work
—
—
?
It
's
nothing
to
them
.
No
woman
ever
painted
for
the
love
of
painting
,
or
sang
for
the
sounds
she
made
,
or
philosophized
for
the
sake
of
wisdom
as
men
do
—
—
"
Buzard
intervened
with
instances
.
Dover
would
have
none
of
them
.
He
displayed
astonishing
and
distinctive
knowledge
.
"
Madame
Curie
,
"
clamoured
Buzard
,
"
Madame
Curie
.
"
"
There
was
Curie
,
"
said
Dover
.
"
No
woman
alone
has
done
such
things
.
I
do
n't
say
women
are
n't
clever
,
"
he
insisted
.
"
They
're
too
clever
.
Give
them
a
man
's
track
or
a
man
's
intention
marked
and
defined
,
they
'll
ape
him
to
the
life
—
—
"
Buzard
renewed
his
protests
,
talking
at
the
same
time
as
Dover
,
and
was
understood
to
say
that
women
had
to
care
for
something
greater
than
art
or
philosophy
.
They
were
custodians
of
life
,
the
future
of
the
race
—
—
"
And
that
's
my
crowning
disappointment
,
"
cried
Dover
.
"
If
there
was
one
thing
in
which
you
might
think
women
would
show
a
sense
of
some
divine
purpose
in
life
,
it
is
in
the
matter
of
children
—
and
they
show
about
as
much
care
in
that
matter
,
oh
!
—
as
rabbits
.
Yes
,
rabbits
!
I
stick
to
it
.
Look
at
the
things
a
nice
girl
will
marry
;
look
at
the
men
's
children
she
'll
consent
to
bring
into
the
world
.
Cheerfully
!
Proudly
!
For
the
sake
of
the
home
and
the
clothes
.
Nasty
little
beasts
they
'll
breed
without
turning
a
hair
.
All
about
us
we
see
girls
and
women
marrying
ugly
men
,
dull
and
stupid
men
,
ill-tempered
dyspeptic
wrecks
,
sickly
young
fools
,
human
rats
—
rats
!
"
"
No
,
no
!
"
cried
Trafford
to
Dover
.
Buzard
's
voice
clamoured
that
all
would
be
different
when
women
had
the
vote
.
"
If
ever
we
get
a
decent
care
for
Eugenics
,
it
will
come
from
men
,
"
said
a
white-faced
little
man
on
the
sofa
beside
Trafford
,
in
the
confidential
tone
of
one
who
tells
a
secret
.
"
Doing
it
cheerfully
!
"
insisted
Dover
.
Trafford
in
mid-protest
was
suddenly
stricken
into
silence
by
a
memory
.
It
was
as
if
the
past
had
thrown
a
stone
at
the
back
of
his
head
and
hit
it
smartly
.
He
nipped
his
sentence
in
the
bud
.
He
left
the
case
for
women
to
Buzard
...
.
He
revived
that
memory
again
on
his
way
home
.
It
had
been
in
his
mind
overlaid
by
a
multitude
of
newer
,
fresher
things
,
but
now
he
took
it
out
and
looked
at
it
.
It
was
queer
,
it
was
really
very
queer
,
to
think
that
once
upon
a
time
,
not
so
very
long
ago
,
Marjorie
had
been
prepared
to
marry
Magnet
.
Of
course
she
had
hated
it
,
but
still
—
—
...
.
There
is
much
to
be
discovered
about
life
,
even
by
a
brilliant
and
rising
young
Professor
of
Physics
...
.
Presently
Dover
,
fingering
the
little
glass
of
yellow
chartreuse
he
had
hitherto
forgotten
in
the
heat
of
controversy
,
took
a
more
personal
turn
.
"
Do
n't
we
know
,
"
he
said
,
and
made
the
limpid
amber
vanish
in
his
pause
.
"
Do
n't
we
know
we
've
got
to
manage
and
control
'
em
—
just
as
we
've
got
to
keep
'
em
and
stand
the
racket
of
their
misbehaviour
?
Do
n't
our
instincts
tell
us
?
Does
n't
something
tell
us
all
that
if
we
let
a
woman
loose
with
our
honour
and
trust
,
some
other
man
will
get
hold
of
her
?
We
've
tried
it
long
enough
now
,
this
theory
that
a
woman
's
a
partner
and
an
equal
;
we
've
tried
it
long
enough
to
see
some
of
the
results
,
and
does
it
work
?
Does
it
?
A
woman
's
a
prize
,
a
possession
,
a
responsibility
,
something
to
take
care
of
and
be
careful
about
...
.
You
chaps
,
if
you
'll
forgive
me
,
you
advanced
chaps
,
seem
to
want
to
have
the
women
take
care
of
you
.
You
seem
always
to
want
to
force
decisions
on
them
,
make
them
answerable
for
things
that
you
ought
to
decide
and
answer
for
...
.
If
one
could
,
if
one
could
!
If
!
...
But
they
're
not
helps
—
that
's
a
dream
—
they
're
distractions
,
gratifications
,
anxieties
,
dangers
,
undertakings
...
.
"
Buzard
got
in
his
one
effective
blow
at
this
point
.
"
That
's
why
you
've
never
married
,
Sir
Roderick
?
"
he
threw
out
.
The
big
man
was
checked
for
a
moment
.
Trafford
wondered
what
memory
lit
that
instant
's
pause
.
"
I
've
had
my
science
,
"
said
Dover
.
Mrs.
Pope
was
of
course
among
the
first
to
visit
the
new
home
so
soon
as
it
was
open
to
inspection
.
She
arrived
,
looking
very
bright
and
neat
in
a
new
bonnet
and
some
new
black
furs
that
suited
her
,
bearing
up
bravely
but
obviously
in
a
state
of
dispersed
and
miscellaneous
emotion
...
.
In
many
ways
Marjorie
's
marriage
had
been
a
great
relief
to
her
mother
.
Particularly
it
had
been
a
financial
relief
.
Marjorie
had
been
the
most
expensive
child
of
her
family
,
and
her
cessation
had
led
to
increments
both
of
Mrs.
Pope
's
and
Daphne
's
all
too
restricted
allowances
.
Mrs.
Pope
had
been
able
therefore
to
relapse
from
the
orthodox
Anglicanism
into
which
poverty
had
driven
her
,
and
indulge
for
an
hour
weekly
in
the
consolations
of
Higher
Thought
.
These
exercises
in
emancipated
religiosity
occurred
at
the
house
of
Mr.
Silas
Root
,
and
were
greatly
valued
by
a
large
circle
of
clients
.
Essentially
they
were
orgies
of
vacuity
,
and
they
cost
six
guineas
for
seven
hours
.
They
did
her
no
end
of
good
.
All
through
the
precious
weekly
hour
she
sat
with
him
in
a
silent
twilight
,
very
,
very
still
and
feeling
—
oh
!
"
higher
"
than
anything
,
and
when
she
came
out
she
wore
an
inane
smile
on
her
face
and
was
prepared
not
to
worry
,
to
lie
with
facility
,
and
to
take
the
easiest
way
in
every
eventuality
in
an
entirely
satisfactory
and
exalted
manner
.
Moreover
he
was
"
treating
"
her
investments
.
Acting
upon
his
advice
,
and
doing
the
whole
thing
quietly
with
the
idea
of
preparing
a
pleasant
surprise
for
her
husband
,
she
had
sold
out
of
certain
Home
Railway
debentures
and
invested
in
a
company
for
working
the
auriferous
waste
which
is
so
abundant
in
the
drainage
of
Philadelphia
,
a
company
whose
shareholders
were
chiefly
higher
thought
disciples
and
whose
profits
therefore
would
inevitably
be
greatly
enhanced
by
their
concerted
mental
action
.
It
was
to
the
prospective
profits
in
this
that
she
owed
the
new
black
furs
she
was
wearing
.
The
furs
and
the
bonnet
and
the
previous
day
's
treatment
she
had
had
,
all
helped
to
brace
her
up
on
Marjorie
's
doorstep
for
a
complex
and
difficult
situation
,
and
to
carry
her
through
the
first
tensions
of
her
call
.
She
was
so
much
to
pieces
as
it
was
that
she
could
not
help
feeling
how
much
more
to
pieces
she
might
have
been
—
but
for
the
grace
of
Silas
Root
.
She
knew
she
ought
to
have
very
strong
feelings
about
Trafford
,
though
it
was
not
really
clear
to
her
what
feelings
she
ought
to
have
.
On
the
whole
she
was
inclined
to
believe
she
was
experiencing
moral
disapproval
mixed
up
with
a
pathetic
and
rather
hopeless
appeal
for
the
welfare
of
the
tender
life
that
had
entrusted
itself
so
recklessly
to
these
brutal
and
discreditable
hands
,
though
indeed
if
she
had
really
dared
to
look
inside
her
mind
her
chief
discovery
would
have
been
a
keenly
jealous
appreciation
of
Trafford
's
good
looks
and
generous
temper
,
and
a
feeling
of
injustice
as
between
her
own
lot
and
Marjorie
's
.
However
,
going
on
her
assumed
basis
she
managed
to
be
very
pale
,
concise
and
tight-lipped
at
any
mention
of
her
son-in-law
,
and
to
put
a
fervour
of
helpless
devotion
into
her
embraces
of
her
daughter
.
She
surveyed
the
house
with
a
pained
constrained
expression
,
as
though
she
tried
in
vain
to
conceal
from
herself
that
it
was
all
slightly
improper
,
and
even
such
objects
as
the
Bokhara
hangings
failed
to
extort
more
than
an
insincere
,
"
Oh
,
very
nice
,
dear
—
very
nice
.
"
In
the
bedroom
,
she
spoke
about
Mr.
Pope
.
"
He
was
dreadfully
upset
,
"
she
said
.
"
His
first
thought
was
to
come
after
you
both
with
a
pistol
.
If
—
if
he
had
n't
married
you
—
—
"
"
But
dear
Mummy
,
of
course
we
meant
to
marry
!
We
married
right
away
.
"
"
Yes
,
dear
,
of
course
.
But
if
he
had
n't
—
—
"
She
paused
,
and
Marjorie
,
with
a
momentary
flush
of
indignation
in
her
cheeks
,
did
not
urge
her
to
conclude
her
explanation
.
"
He
's
wounded
,
"
said
Mrs.
Pope
.
"
Some
day
perhaps
he
'll
come
round
—
you
were
always
his
favourite
daughter
.
"
"
I
know
,
"
said
Marjorie
concisely
,
with
a
faint
flavour
of
cynicism
in
her
voice
.
"
I
'm
afraid
dear
,
at
present
—
he
will
do
nothing
for
you
.
"
"
I
do
n't
think
Rag
would
like
him
to
,
"
said
Marjorie
with
an
unreal
serenity
;
"
ever
.
"
"
For
a
time
I
'm
afraid
he
'll
refuse
to
see
you
.
He
just
wants
to
forget
—
—
.
Everything
.
"
"
Poor
old
Dad
!
I
wish
he
would
n't
put
himself
out
like
this
.
Still
,
I
wo
n't
bother
him
,
Mummy
,
if
you
mean
that
.
"
Then
suddenly
into
Mrs.
Pope
's
unsystematic
,
unstable
mind
,
started
perhaps
by
the
ring
in
her
daughter
's
voice
,
there
came
a
wave
of
affectionate
feeling
.
That
she
had
somehow
to
be
hostile
and
unsympathetic
to
Marjorie
,
that
she
had
to
pretend
that
Trafford
was
wicked
and
disgusting
,
and
not
be
happy
in
the
jolly
hope
and
happiness
of
this
bright
little
house
,
cut
her
with
a
keen
swift
pain
.
She
did
n't
know
clearly
why
she
was
taking
this
coldly
hostile
attitude
,
or
why
she
went
on
doing
so
,
but
the
sense
of
that
necessity
hurt
her
none
the
less
.
She
put
out
her
hands
upon
her
daughter
's
shoulders
and
whimpered
:
"
Oh
my
dear
!
I
do
wish
things
were
n't
so
difficult
—
so
very
difficult
.
"
The
whimper
changed
by
some
inner
force
of
its
own
to
honest
sobs
and
tears
.
Marjorie
passed
through
a
flash
of
amazement
to
a
sudden
understanding
of
her
mother
's
case
.
"
Poor
dear
Mummy
,
"
she
said
.
"
Oh
!
poor
dear
Mummy
.
It
's
a
shame
of
us
!
"
She
put
her
arms
about
her
mother
and
held
her
for
awhile
.
"
It
is
a
shame
,
"
said
her
mother
in
a
muffled
voice
,
trying
to
keep
hold
of
this
elusive
thing
that
had
somehow
both
wounded
her
and
won
her
daughter
back
.
But
her
poor
grasp
slipped
again
.
"
I
knew
you
'd
come
to
see
it
,
"
she
said
,
dabbing
with
her
handkerchief
at
her
eyes
.
"
I
knew
you
would
.
"
And
then
with
the
habitual
loyalty
of
years
resuming
its
sway
:
"
He
's
always
been
so
good
to
you
.
"
...
But
Mrs.
Pope
had
something
more
definite
to
say
to
Marjorie
,
and
came
to
it
at
last
with
a
tactful
offhandedness
.
Marjorie
communicated
it
to
Trafford
about
an
hour
later
on
his
return
from
the
laboratory
.
"
I
say
,
"
she
said
,
"
old
Daffy
's
engaged
to
Magnet
!
"
She
paused
,
and
added
with
just
the
faintest
trace
of
resentment
in
her
voice
:
"
She
can
have
him
,
as
far
as
I
'm
concerned
.
"
"
He
did
n't
wait
long
,
"
said
Trafford
tactlessly
.
"
No
,
"
said
Marjorie
;
"
he
did
n't
wait
long
...
.
Of
course
she
got
him
on
the
rebound
.
"
...
Mrs.
Pope
was
only
a
day
or
so
ahead
of
a
cloud
of
callers
.
The
Carmel
girls
followed
close
upon
her
,
tall
figures
of
black
fur
,
with
costly-looking
muffs
and
a
rich
glitter
at
neck
and
wrist
.
Marjorie
displayed
her
house
,
talking
fluently
about
other
things
,
and
watching
for
effects
.
The
Carmel
girls
ran
their
swift
dark
eyes
over
her
appointments
,
glanced
quickly
from
side
to
side
of
her
rooms
,
saw
only
too
certainly
that
the
house
was
narrow
and
small
—
—
.
But
did
they
see
that
it
was
clever
?
They
saw
at
any
rate
that
she
meant
it
to
be
clever
,
and
with
true
Oriental
politeness
said
as
much
urgently
and
extravagantly
.
Then
there
were
the
Rambord
girls
and
their
mother
,
an
unobservant
lot
who
chattered
about
the
ice
at
Prince
's
;
then
Constance
Graham
came
with
a
thoroughbred
but
very
dirty
aunt
,
and
then
Ottiline
Winchelsea
with
an
American
minor
poet
,
who
wanted
a
view
of
mountains
from
the
windows
at
the
back
,
and
said
the
bathroom
ought
to
be
done
in
pink
.
Then
Lady
Solomonson
came
;
an
extremely
expensive-looking
fair
lady
with
an
affectation
of
cynicism
,
a
keen
intelligence
,
acutely
apt
conversation
,
and
a
queer
effect
of
thinking
of
something
else
all
the
time
she
was
talking
.
She
missed
nothing
...
.
Hardly
anybody
failed
to
appreciate
the
charm
and
decision
of
Marjorie
's
use
of
those
Bokhara
embroideries
.
They
would
have
been
cheap
at
double
the
price
.
And
then
our
two
young
people
went
out
to
their
first
dinner-parties
together
.
They
began
with
Trafford
's
rich
friend
Solomonson
,
who
had
played
so
large
and
so
passive
a
part
in
their
first
meeting
.
He
had
behaved
with
a
sort
of
magnanimous
triumph
over
the
marriage
.
He
made
it
