impressedthem
both
as
having
something
queer
and
ominous
about
it
out
of
all
proportion
to
its
surface
strangeness
.
“
It’s
the
sort
of
way
Aunt
Maggie
behaves
,
”
said
Cassandra
,
as
if
in
explanation
.
William
shook
his
head
,
and
paced
up
and
down
the
room
looking
extremely
perturbed
.
“
This
is
what
I’ve
been
foretelling
,
”
he
burst
out
.
“
Once
set
the
ordinary
conventions
aside
—
Thank
Heaven
Mrs.
Hilbery
is
away
.
But
there’s
Mr.
Hilbery
.
How
are
we
to
explain
it
to
him
?
I
shall
have
to
leave
you
.
”
“
But
Uncle
Trevor
won’t
be
back
for
hours
,
William
!
”
Cassandra
implored
.
“
You
never
can
tell
.
He
may
be
on
his
way
already
.
Or
suppose
Mrs.
Milvain
—
your
Aunt
Celia
—
or
Mrs.
Cosham
,
or
any
other
of
your
aunts
or
uncles
should
be
shown
in
and
find
us
alone
together
.
You
know
what
they’re
saying
about
us
already
.
”
Cassandra
was
equally
stricken
by
the
sight
of
William’s
agitation
,
and
appalled
by
the
prospect
of
his
desertion
.
“
We
might
hide
,
”
she
exclaimed
wildly
,
glancing
at
the
curtain
which
separated
the
room
with
the
relics
.
“
I
refuse
entirely
to
get
under
the
table
,
”
said
William
sarcastically
.
She
saw
that
he
was
losing
his
temper
with
the
difficulties
of
the
situation
.
Her
instinct
told
her
that
an
appeal
to
his
affection
,
at
this
moment
,
would
be
extremely
ill-judged
.
She
controlled
herself
,
sat
down
,
poured
out
a
fresh
cup
of
tea
,
and
sipped
it
quietly
.
This
natural
action
,
arguing
complete
self-mastery
,
and
showing
her
in
one
of
those
feminine
attitudes
which
William
found
adorable
,
did
more
than
any
argument
to
compose
his
agitation
.
It
appealed
to
his
chivalry
.
He
accepted
a
cup
.
Next
she
asked
for
a
slice
of
cake
.
By
the
time
the
cake
was
eaten
and
the
tea
drunk
the
personal
question
had
lapsed
,
and
they
were
discussing
poetry
.
Insensibly
they
turned
from
the
question
of
dramatic
poetry
in
general
,
to
the
particular
example
which
reposed
in
William’s
pocket
,
and
when
the
maid
came
in
to
clear
away
the
tea-things
,
William
had
asked
permission
to
read
a
short
passage
aloud
,
“
unless
it
bored
her
?
”
Cassandra
bent
her
head
in
silence
,
but
she
showed
a
little
of
what
she
felt
in
her
eyes
,
and
thus
fortified
,
William
felt
confident
that
it
would
take
more
than
Mrs.
Milvain
herself
to
rout
him
from
his
position
.
He
read
aloud
.
Meanwhile
Katharine
walked
rapidly
along
the
street
.
If
called
upon
to
explain
her
impulsive
action
in
leaving
the
tea-table
,
she
could
have
traced
it
to
no
better
cause
than
that
William
had
glanced
at
Cassandra
;
Cassandra
at
William
.
Yet
,
because
they
had
glanced
,
her
position
was
impossible
.
If
one
forgot
to
pour
out
a
cup
of
tea
they
rushed
to
the
conclusion
that
she
was
engaged
to
Ralph
Denham
.
She
knew
that
in
half
an
hour
or
so
the
door
would
open
,
and
Ralph
Denham
would
appear
.
She
could
not
sit
there
and
contemplate
seeing
him
with
William’s
and
Cassandra’s
eyes
upon
them
,
judging
their
exact
degree
of
intimacy
,
so
that
they
might
fix
the
wedding-day
.
She
promptly
decided
that
she
would
meet
Ralph
out
of
doors
;
she
still
had
time
to
reach
Lincoln’s
Inn
Fields
before
he
left
his
office
.
She
hailed
a
cab
,
and
bade
it
take
her
to
a
shop
for
selling
maps
which
she
remembered
in
Great
Queen
Street
,
since
she
hardly
liked
to
be
set
down
at
his
door
.
Arrived
at
the
shop
,
she
bought
a
large
scale
map
of
Norfolk
,
and
thus
provided
,
hurried
into
Lincoln’s
Inn
Fields
,
and
assured
herself
of
the
position
of
Messrs.
Hoper
and
Grateley’s
office
.
The
great
gas
chandeliers
were
alight
in
the
office
windows
.
She
conceived
that
he
sat
at
an
enormous
table
laden
with
papers
beneath
one
of
them
in
the
front
room
with
the
three
tall
windows
.
Having
settled
his
position
there
,
she
began
walking
to
and
fro
upon
the
pavement
.
Nobody
of
his
build
appeared
.
She
scrutinized
each
male
figure
as
it
approached
and
passed
her
.
Each
male
figure
had
,
nevertheless
,
a
look
of
him
,
due
,
perhaps
,
to
the
professional
dress
,
the
quick
step
,
the
keen
glance
which
they
cast
upon
her
as
they
hastened
home
after
the
day’s
work
.
The
square
itself
,
with
its
immense
houses
all
so
fully
occupied
and
stern
of
aspect
,
its
atmosphere
of
industry
and
power
,
as
if
even
the
sparrows
and
the
children
were
earning
their
daily
bread
,
as
if
the
sky
itself
,
with
its
gray
and
scarlet
clouds
,
reflected
the
serious
intention
of
the
city
beneath
it
,
spoke
of
him
.
Here
was
the
fit
place
for
their
meeting
,
she
thought
;
here
was
the
fit
place
for
her
to
walk
thinking
of
him
.
She
could
not
help
comparing
it
with
the
domestic
streets
of
Chelsea
.
With
this
comparison
in
her
mind
,
she
extended
her
range
a
little
,
and
turned
into
the
main
road
.
The
great
torrent
of
vans
and
carts
was
sweeping
down
Kingsway
;
pedestrians
were
streaming
in
two
currents
along
the
pavements
.
She
stood
fascinated
at
the
corner
.
The
deep
roar
filled
her
ears
;
the
changing
tumult
had
the
inexpressible
fascination
of
varied
life
pouring
ceaselessly
with
a
purpose
which
,
as
she
looked
,
seemed
to
her
,
somehow
,
the
normal
purpose
for
which
life
was
framed
;
its
complete
indifference
to
the
individuals
,
whom
it
swallowed
up
and
rolled
onwards
,
filled
her
with
at
least
a
temporary
exaltation
.
The
blend
of
daylight
and
of
lamplight
made
her
an
invisible
spectator
,
just
as
it
gave
the
people
who
passed
her
a
semi-transparent
quality
,
and
left
the
faces
pale
ivory
ovals
in
which
the
eyes
alone
were
dark
.
They
tended
the
enormous
rush
of
the
current
—
the
great
flow
,
the
deep
stream
,
the
unquenchable
tide
.
She
stood
unobserved
and
absorbed
,
glorying
openly
in
the
rapture
that
had
run
subterraneously
all
day
.
Suddenly
she
was
clutched
,
unwilling
,
from
the
outside
,
by
the
recollection
of
her
purpose
in
coming
there
.
She
had
come
to
find
Ralph
Denham
.
She
hastily
turned
back
into
Lincoln’s
Inn
Fields
,
and
looked
for
her
landmark
—
the
light
in
the
three
tall
windows
.
She
sought
in
vain
.
The
faces
of
the
houses
had
now
merged
in
the
general
darkness
,
and
she
had
difficulty
in
determining
which
she
sought
.
Ralph’s
three
windows
gave
back
on
their
ghostly
glass
panels
only
a
reflection
of
the
gray
and
greenish
sky
.
She
rang
the
bell
,
peremptorily
,
under
the
painted
name
of
the
firm
.
After
some
delay
she
was
answered
by
a
caretaker
,
whose
pail
and
brush
of
themselves
told
her
that
the
working
day
was
over
and
the
workers
gone
.
Nobody
,
save
perhaps
Mr.
Grateley
himself
,
was
left
,
she
assured
Katharine
;
every
one
else
had
been
gone
these
ten
minutes
.
The
news
woke
Katharine
completely
.
Anxiety
gained
upon
her
.
She
hastened
back
into
Kingsway
,
looking
at
people
who
had
miraculously
regained
their
solidity
.
She
ran
as
far
as
the
Tube
station
,
overhauling
clerk
after
clerk
,
solicitor
after
solicitor
.
Not
one
of
them
even
faintly
resembled
Ralph
Denham
.
More
and
more
plainly
did
she
see
him
;
and
more
and
more
did
he
seem
to
her
unlike
any
one
else
.
At
the
door
of
the
station
she
paused
,
and
tried
to
collect
her
thoughts
.
He
had
gone
to
her
house
.
By
taking
a
cab
she
could
be
there
probably
in
advance
of
him
.
But
she
pictured
herself
opening
the
drawing-room
door
,
and
William
and
Cassandra
looking
up
,
and
Ralph’s
entrance
a
moment
later
,
and
the
glances
—
the
insinuations
.
No
;
she
could
not
face
it
.
She
would
write
him
a
letter
and
take
it
at
once
to
his
house
.
She
bought
paper
and
pencil
at
the
bookstall
,
and
entered
an
A.B.C.
shop
,
where
,
by
ordering
a
cup
of
coffee
,
she
secured
an
empty
table
,
and
began
at
vice
to
write
:
“
I
came
to
meet
you
and
I
have
missed
you
.
I
could
not
face
William
and
Cassandra
.
They
want
us
—
”
here
she
paused
.
“
They
insist
that
we
are
engaged
,
”
she
substituted
,
“
and
we
couldn’t
talk
at
all
,
or
explain
anything
.
I
want
—
”
Her
wants
were
so
vast
,
now
that
she
was
in
communication
with
Ralph
,
that
the
pencil
was
utterly
inadequate
to
conduct
them
on
to
the
paper
;
it
seemed
as
if
the
whole
torrent
of
Kingsway
had
to
run
down
her
pencil
.
She
gazed
intently
at
a
notice
hanging
on
the
gold-encrusted
wall
opposite
,
“
...
to
say
all
kinds
of
things
,
”
she
added
,
writing
each
word
with
the
painstaking
of
a
child
.
But
,
when
she
raised
her
eyes
again
to
meditate
the
next
sentence
,
she
was
aware
of
a
waitress
,
whose
expression
intimated
that
it
was
closing
time
,
and
,
looking
round
,
Katharine
saw
herself
almost
the
last
person
left
in
the
shop
.
She
took
up
her
letter
,
paid
her
bill
,
and
found
herself
once
more
in
the
street
.
She
would
now
take
a
cab
to
Highgate
.
But
at
that
moment
it
flashed
upon
her
that
she
could
not
remember
the
address
.
This
check
seemed
to
let
fall
a
barrier
across
a
very
powerful
current
of
desire
.
She
ransacked
her
memory
in
desperation
,
hunting
for
the
name
,
first
by
remembering
the
look
of
the
house
,
and
then
by
trying
,
in
memory
,
to
retrace
the
words
she
had
written
once
,
at
least
,
upon
an
envelope
.
The
more
she
pressed
the
farther
the
words
receded
.
Was
the
house
an
Orchard
Something
,
on
the
street
a
Hill
?
She
gave
it
up
.
Never
,
since
she
was
a
child
,
had
she
felt
anything
like
this
blankness
and
desolation
.
There
rushed
in
upon
her
,
as
if
she
were
waking
from
some
dream
,
all
the
consequences
of
her
inexplicable
indolence
.
She
figured
Ralph’s
face
as
he
turned
from
her
door
without
a
word
of
explanation
,
receiving
his
dismissal
as
a
blow
from
herself
,
a
callous
intimation
that
she
did
not
wish
to
see
him
.
She
followed
his
departure
from
her
door
;
but
it
was
far
more
easy
to
see
him
marching
far
and
fast
in
any
direction
for
any
length
of
time
than
to
conceive
that
he
would
turn
back
to
Highgate
.
Perhaps
he
would
try
once
more
to
see
her
in
Cheyne
Walk
?
It
was
proof
of
the
clearness
with
which
she
saw
him
,
that
she
started
forward
as
this
possibility
occurred
to
her
,
and
almost
raised
her
hand
to
beckon
to
a
cab
.
No
;
he
was
too
proud
to
come
again
;
he
rejected
the
desire
and
walked
on
and
on
,
on
and
on
—
If
only
she
could
read
the
names
of
those
visionary
streets
down
which
he
passed
!
But
her
imagination
betrayed
her
at
this
point
,
or
mocked
her
with
a
sense
of
their
strangeness
,
darkness
,
and
distance
.
Indeed
,
instead
of
helping
herself
to
any
decision
,
she
only
filled
her
mind
with
the
vast
extent
of
London
and
the
impossibility
of
finding
any
single
figure
that
wandered
off
this
way
and
that
way
,
turned
to
the
right
and
to
the
left
,
chose
that
dingy
little
back
street
where
the
children
were
playing
in
the
road
,
and
so
—
She
roused
herself
impatiently
.
She
walked
rapidly
along
Holborn
.
Soon
she
turned
and
walked
as
rapidly
in
the
other
direction
.
This
indecision
was
not
merely
odious
,
but
had
something
that
alarmed
her
about
it
,
as
she
had
been
alarmed
slightly
once
or
twice
already
that
day
;
she
felt
unable
to
cope
with
the
strength
of
her
own
desires
.
To
a
person
controlled
by
habit
,
there
was
humiliation
as
well
as
alarm
in
this
sudden
release
of
what
appeared
to
be
a
very
powerful
as
well
as
an
unreasonable
force
.
An
aching
in
the
muscles
of
her
right
hand
now
showed
her
that
she
was
crushing
her
gloves
and
the
map
of
Norfolk
in
a
grip
sufficient
to
crack
a
more
solid
object
.
She
relaxed
her
grasp
;
she
looked
anxiously
at
the
faces
of
the
passers-by
to
see
whether
their
eyes
rested
on
her
for
a
moment
longer
than
was
natural
,
or
with
any
curiosity
.
But
having
smoothed
out
her
gloves
,
and
done
what
she
could
to
look
as
usual
,
she
forgot
spectators
,
and
was
once
more
given
up
to
her
desperate
desire
to
find
Ralph
Denham
.
It
was
a
desire
now
—
wild
,
irrational
,
unexplained
,
resembling
something
felt
in
childhood
.
Once
more
she
blamed
herself
bitterly
for
her
carelessness
.
But
finding
herself
opposite
the
Tube
station
,
she
pulled
herself
up
and
took
counsel
swiftly
,
as
of
old
.
It
flashed
upon
her
that
she
would
go
at
once
to
Mary
Datchet
,
and
ask
her
to
give
her
Ralph’s
address
.
The
decision
was
a
relief
,
not
only
in
giving
her
a
goal
,
but
in
providing
her
with
a
rational
excuse
for
her
own
actions
.
It
gave
her
a
goal
certainly
,
but
the
fact
of
having
a
goal
led
her
to
dwell
exclusively
upon
her
obsession
;
so
that
when
she
rang
the
bell
of
Mary’s
flat
,
she
did
not
for
a
moment
consider
how
this
demand
would
strike
Mary
.
To
her
extreme
annoyance
Mary
was
not
at
home
;
a
charwoman
opened
the
door
.
All
Katharine
could
do
was
to
accept
the
invitation
to
wait
.
She
waited
for
,
perhaps
,
fifteen
minutes
,
and
spent
them
in
pacing
from
one
end
of
the
room
to
the
other
without
intermission
.
When
she
heard
Mary’s
key
in
the
door
she
paused
in
front
of
the
fireplace
,
and
Mary
found
her
standing
upright
,
looking
at
once
expectant
and
determined
,
like
a
person
who
has
come
on
an
errand
of
such
importance
that
it
must
be
broached
without
preface
.
Mary
exclaimed
in
surprise
.
“
Yes
,
yes
,
”
Katharine
said
,
brushing
these
remarks
aside
,
as
if
they
were
in
the
way
.
“
Have
you
had
tea
?
”
“
Oh
yes
,
”
she
said
,
thinking
that
she
had
had
tea
hundreds
of
years
ago
,
somewhere
or
other
.
Mary
paused
,
took
off
her
gloves
,
and
,
finding
matches
,
proceeded
to
light
the
fire
.
Katharine
checked
her
with
an
impatient
movement
,
and
said
:
“
Don’t
light
the
fire
for
me
...
.
I
want
to
know
Ralph
Denham’s
address
.
”
She
was
holding
a
pencil
and
preparing
to
write
on
the
envelope
.
She
waited
with
an
imperious
expression
.
“
The
Apple
Orchard
,
Mount
Ararat
Road
,
Highgate
,
”
Mary
said
,
speaking
slowly
and
rather
strangely
.
“
Oh
,
I
remember
now
!
”
Katharine
exclaimed
,
with
irritation
at
her
own
stupidity
.
“
I
suppose
it
wouldn’t
take
twenty
minutes
to
drive
there
?
”
She
gathered
up
her
purse
and
gloves
and
seemed
about
to
go
.
“
But
you
won’t
find
him
,
”
said
Mary
,
pausing
with
a
match
in
her
hand
.
Katharine
,
who
had
already
turned
towards
the
door
,
stopped
and
looked
at
her
.
“
Why
?
Where
is
he
?
”
she
asked
.
“
He
won’t
have
left
his
office
.
”
“
But
he
has
left
the
office
,
”
she
replied
.
“
The
only
question
is
will
he
have
reached
home
yet
?
He
went
to
see
me
at
Chelsea
;
I
tried
to
meet
him
and
missed
him
.
He
will
have
found
no
message
to
explain
.
So
I
must
find
him
—
as
soon
as
possible
.
”
Mary
took
in
the
situation
at
her
leisure
.
“
But
why
not
telephone
?
”
she
said
.
Katharine
immediately
dropped
all
that
she
was
holding
;
her
strained
expression
relaxed
,
and
exclaiming
,
“
Of
course
!
Why
didn’t
I
think
of
that
!
”
she
seized
the
telephone
receiver
and
gave
her
number
.
Mary
looked
at
her
steadily
,
and
then
left
the
room
.
At
length
Katharine
heard
,
through
all
the
superimposed
weight
of
London
,
the
mysterious
sound
of
feet
in
her
own
house
mounting
to
the
little
room
,
where
she
could
almost
see
the
pictures
and
the
books
;
she
listened
with
extreme
intentness
to
the
preparatory
vibrations
,
and
then
established
her
identity
.
“
Has
Mr.
Denham
called
?
”
“
Yes
,
miss.
”
“
Did
he
ask
for
me
?
”
“
Yes
.
We
said
you
were
out
,
miss.
”
“
Did
he
leave
any
message
?
”
“
No.
He
went
away
.
About
twenty
minutes
ago
,
miss.
”
Katharine
hung
up
the
receiver
.
She
walked
the
length
of
the
room
in
such
acute
disappointment
that
she
did
not
at
first
perceive
Mary’s
absence
.
Then
she
called
in
a
harsh
and
peremptory
tone
:
“
Mary
.
”
Mary
was
taking
off
her
outdoor
things
in
the
bedroom
.
She
heard
Katharine
call
her
.
“
Yes
,
”
she
said
,
“
I
shan’t
be
a
moment
.
”
But
the
moment
prolonged
itself
,
as
if
for
some
reason
Mary
found
satisfaction
in
making
herself
not
only
tidy
,
but
seemly
and
ornamented
.
A
stage
in
her
life
had
been
accomplished
in
the
last
months
which
left
its
traces
for
ever
upon
her
bearing
.
Youth
,
and
the
bloom
of
youth
,
had
receded
,
leaving
the
purpose
of
her
face
to
show
itself
in
the
hollower
cheeks
,
the
firmer
lips
,
the
eyes
no
longer
spontaneously
observing
at
random
,
but
narrowed
upon
an
end
which
was
not
near
at
hand
.
This
woman
was
now
a
serviceable
human
being
,
mistress
of
her
own
destiny
,
and
thus
,
by
some
combination
of
ideas
,
fit
to
be
adorned
with
the
dignity
of
silver
chains
and
glowing
brooches
.
She
came
in
at
her
leisure
and
asked
:
“
Well
,
did
you
get
an
answer
?
”
“
He
has
left
Chelsea
already
,
”
Katharine
replied
.
“
Still
,
he
won’t
be
home
yet
,
”
said
Mary
.
Katharine
was
once
more
irresistibly
drawn
to
gaze
upon
an
imaginary
map
of
London
,
to
follow
the
twists
and
turns
of
unnamed
streets
.
“
I’ll
ring
up
his
home
and
ask
whether
he’s
back
.
”
Mary
crossed
to
the
telephone
and
,
after
a
series
of
brief
remarks
,
announced
:
“
No.
His
sister
says
he
hasn’t
come
back
yet
.
”
“
Ah
!
”
She
applied
her
ear
to
the
telephone
once
more
.
“
They’ve
had
a
message
.
He
won’t
be
back
to
dinner
.
”
“
Then
what
is
he
going
to
do
?
”
Very
pale
,
and
with
her
large
eyes
fixed
not
so
much
upon
Mary
as
upon
vistas
of
unresponding
blankness
,
Katharine
addressed
herself
also
not
so
much
to
Mary
as
to
the
unrelenting
spirit
which
now
appeared
to
mock
her
from
every
quarter
of
her
survey
.
After
waiting
a
little
time
Mary
remarked
indifferently
:
“
I
really
don’t
know
.
”
Slackly
lying
back
in
her
armchair
,
she
watched
the
little
flames
beginning
to
creep
among
the
coals
indifferently
,
as
if
they
,
too
,
were
very
distant
and
indifferent
.
Katharine
looked
at
her
indignantly
and
rose
.
“
Possibly
he
may
come
here
,
”
Mary
continued
,
without
altering
the
abstract
tone
of
her
voice
.
“
It
would
be
worth
your
while
to
wait
if
you
want
to
see
him
to-night
.
”
She
bent
forward
and
touched
the
wood
,
so
that
the
flames
slipped
in
between
the
interstices
of
the
coal
.
Katharine
reflected
.
“
I’ll
wait
half
an
hour
,
”
she
said
.
Mary
rose
,
went
to
the
table
,
spread
out
her
papers
under
the
green-shaded
lamp
and
,
with
an
action
that
was
becoming
a
habit
,
twisted
a
lock
of
hair
round
and
round
in
her
fingers
.
Once
she
looked
unperceived
at
her
visitor
,
who
never
moved
,
who
sat
so
still
,
with
eyes
so
intent
,
that
you
could
almost
fancy
that
she
was
watching
something
,
some
face
that
never
looked
up
at
her
.
Mary
found
herself
unable
to
go
on
writing
.
She
turned
her
eyes
away
,
but
only
to
be
aware
of
the
presence
of
what
Katharine
looked
at
.
There
were
ghosts
in
the
room
,
and
one
,
strangely
and
sadly
,
was
the
ghost
of
herself
.
The
minutes
went
by
.
“
What
would
be
the
time
now
?
”
said
Katharine
at
last
.
The
half-hour
was
not
quite
spent
.
“
I’m
going
to
get
dinner
ready
,
”
said
Mary
,
rising
from
her
table
.
“
Then
I’ll
go
,
”
said
Katharine
.
“
Why
don’t
you
stay
?
Where
are
you
going
?
”
Katharine
looked
round
the
room
,
conveying
her
uncertainty
in
her
glance
.
“
Perhaps
I
might
find
him
,
”
she
mused
.
“
But
why
should
it
matter
?
You’ll
see
him
another
day
.
”
Mary
spoke
,
and
intended
to
speak
,
cruelly
enough
.
“
I
was
wrong
to
come
here
,
”
Katharine
replied
.
Their
eyes
met
with
antagonism
,
and
neither
flinched
.
“
You
had
a
perfect
right
to
come
here
,
”
Mary
answered
.
A
loud
knocking
at
the
door
interrupted
them
.
Mary
went
to
open
it
,
and
returning
with
some
note
or
parcel
,
Katharine
looked
away
so
that
Mary
might
not
read
her
disappointment
.
“
Of
course
you
had
a
right
to
come
,
”
Mary
repeated
,
laying
the
note
upon
the
table
.
“
No
,
”
said
Katharine
.
“
Except
that
when
one’s
desperate
one
has
a
sort
of
right
.
I
am
desperate
.
How
do
I
know
what’s
happening
to
him
now
?
He
may
do
anything
.
He
may
wander
about
the
streets
all
night
.
Anything
may
happen
to
him
.
”
She
spoke
with
a
self-abandonment
that
Mary
had
never
seen
in
her
.
“
You
know
you
exaggerate
;
you’re
talking
nonsense
,
”
she
said
roughly
.
“
Mary
,
I
must
talk
—
I
must
tell
you
—
”
“
You
needn’t
tell
me
anything
,
”
Mary
interrupted
her
.
“
Can’t
I
see
for
myself
?
”
“
No
,
no
,
”
Katharine
exclaimed
.
“
It’s
not
that
—
”
Her
look
,
passing
beyond
Mary
,
beyond
the
verge
of
the
room
and
out
beyond
any
words
that
came
her
way
,
wildly
and
passionately
,
convinced
Mary
that
she
,
at
any
rate
,
could
not
follow
such
a
glance
to
its
end
.
She
was
baffled
;
she
tried
to
think
herself
back
again
into
the
height
of
her
love
for
Ralph
.
Pressing
her
fingers
upon
her
eyelids
,
she
murmured
:
“
You
forget
that
I
loved
him
too
.
I
thought
I
knew
him
.
I
did
know
him
.
”
And
yet
,
what
had
she
known
?
She
could
not
remember
it
any
more
.
She
pressed
her
eyeballs
until
they
struck
stars
and
suns
into
her
darkness
.
She
convinced
herself
that
she
was
stirring
among
ashes
.
She
desisted
.
She
was
astonished
at
her
discovery
.
She
did
not
love
Ralph
any
more
.
She
looked
back
dazed
into
the
room
,
and
her
eyes
rested
upon
the
table
with
its
lamp-lit
papers
.
The
steady
radiance
seemed
for
a
second
to
have
its
counterpart
within
her
;
she
shut
her
eyes
;
she
opened
them
and
looked
at
the
lamp
again
;
another
love
burnt
in
the
place
of
the
old
one
,
or
so
,
in
a
momentary
glance
of
amazement
,
she
guessed
before
the
revelation
was
over
and
the
old
surroundings
asserted
themselves
.
She
leant
in
silence
against
the
mantelpiece
.
“
There
are
different
ways
of
loving
,
”
she
murmured
,
half
to
herself
,
at
length
.
Katharine
made
no
reply
and
seemed
unaware
of
her
words
.
She
seemed
absorbed
in
her
own
thoughts
.
“
Perhaps
he’s
waiting
in
the
street
again
to-night
,
”
she
exclaimed
.
“
I’ll
go
now
.
I
might
find
him
.
”
“
It’s
far
more
likely
that
he’ll
come
here
,
”
said
Mary
,
and
Katharine
,
after
considering
for
a
moment
,
said
:
“
I’ll
wait
another
half-hour
.
”
She
sank
down
into
her
chair
again
,
and
took
up
the
same
position
which
Mary
had
compared
to
the
position
of
one
watching
an
unseeing
face
.
She
watched
,
indeed
,
not
a
face
,
but
a
procession
,
not
of
people
,
but
of
life
itself
:
the
good
and
bad
;
the
meaning
;
the
past
,
the
present
,
and
the
future
.
All
this
seemed
apparent
to
her
,
and
she
was
not
ashamed
of
her
extravagance
so
much
as
exalted
to
one
of
the
pinnacles
of
existence
,
where
it
behoved
the
world
to
do
her
homage
.
No
one
but
she
herself
knew
what
it
meant
to
miss
Ralph
Denham
on
that
particular
night
;
into
this
inadequate
event
crowded
feelings
that
the
great
crises
of
life
might
have
failed
to
call
forth
.
She
had
missed
him
,
and
knew
the
bitterness
of
all
failure
;
she
desired
him
,
and
knew
the
torment
of
all
passion
.
It
did
not
matter
what
trivial
accidents
led
to
this
culmination
.
Nor
did
she
care
how
extravagant
she
appeared
,
nor
how
openly
she
showed
her
feelings
.
When
the
dinner
was
ready
Mary
told
her
to
come
,
and
she
came
submissively
,
as
if
she
let
Mary
direct
her
movements
for
her
.
They
ate
and
drank
together
almost
in
silence
,
and
when
Mary
told
her
to
eat
more
,
she
ate
more
;
when
she
was
told
to
drink
wine
,
she
drank
it
.
Nevertheless
,
beneath
this
superficial
obedience
,
Mary
knew
that
she
was
following
her
own
thoughts
unhindered
.
She
was
not
inattentive
so
much
as
remote
;
she
looked
at
once
so
unseeing
and
so
intent
upon
some
vision
of
her
own
that
Mary
gradually
felt
more
than
protective
—
she
became
actually
alarmed
at
the
prospect
of
some
collision
between
Katharine
and
the
forces
of
the
outside
world
.
Directly
they
had
done
,
Katharine
announced
her
intention
of
going
.
“
But
where
are
you
going
to
?
”
Mary
asked
,
desiring
vaguely
to
hinder
her
.
“
Oh
,
I’m
going
home
—
no
,
to
Highgate
perhaps
.
”
Mary
saw
that
it
would
be
useless
to
try
to
stop
her
.
All
she
could
do
was
to
insist
upon
coming
too
,
but
she
met
with
no
opposition
;
Katharine
seemed
indifferent
to
her
presence
.
In
a
few
minutes
they
were
walking
along
the
Strand
.
They
walked
so
rapidly
that
Mary
was
deluded
into
the
belief
that
Katharine
knew
where
she
was
going
.
She
herself
was
not
attentive
.
She
was
glad
of
the
movement
along
lamp-lit
streets
in
the
open
air
.
She
was
fingering
,
painfully
and
with
fear
,
yet
with
strange
hope
,
too
,
the
discovery
which
she
had
stumbled
upon
unexpectedly
that
night
.
She
was
free
once
more
at
the
cost
of
a
gift
,
the
best
,
perhaps
,
that
she
could
offer
,
but
she
was
,
thank
Heaven
,
in
love
no
longer
.
She
was
tempted
to
spend
the
first
instalment
of
her
freedom
in
some
dissipation
;
in
the
pit
of
the
Coliseum
,
for
example
,
since
they
were
now
passing
the
door
.
Why
not
go
in
and
celebrate
her
independence
of
the
tyranny
of
love
?
Or
,
perhaps
,
the
top
of
an
omnibus
bound
for
some
remote
place
such
as
Camberwell
,
or
Sidcup
,
or
the
Welsh
Harp
would
suit
her
better
.
She
noticed
these
names
painted
on
little
boards
for
the
first
time
for
weeks
.
Or
should
she
return
to
her
room
,
and
spend
the
night
working
out
the
details
of
a
very
enlightened
and
ingenious
scheme
?
Of
all
possibilities
this
appealed
to
her
most
,
and
brought
to
mind
the
fire
,
the
lamplight
,
the
steady
glow
which
had
seemed
lit
in
the
place
where
a
more
passionate
flame
had
once
burnt
.
Now
Katharine
stopped
,
and
Mary
woke
to
the
fact
that
instead
of
having
a
goal
she
had
evidently
none
.
She
paused
at
the
edge
of
the
crossing
,
and
looked
this
way
and
that
,
and
finally
made
as
if
in
the
direction
of
Haverstock
Hill
.
“
Look
here
—
where
are
you
going
?
”
Mary
cried
,
catching
her
by
the
hand
.
“
We
must
take
that
cab
and
go
home
.
”
She
hailed
a
cab
and
insisted
that
Katharine
should
get
in
,
while
she
directed
the
driver
to
take
them
to
Cheyne
Walk
.
Katharine
submitted
.
“
Very
well
,
”
she
said
.
“
We
may
as
well
go
there
as
anywhere
else
.
”
A
gloom
seemed
to
have
fallen
on
her
.
She
lay
back
in
her
corner
,
silent
and
apparently
exhausted
.
Mary
,
in
spite
of
her
own
preoccupation
,
was
struck
by
her
pallor
and
her
attitude
of
dejection
.
“
I’m
sure
we
shall
find
him
,
”
she
said
more
gently
than
she
had
yet
spoken
.
“
It
may
be
too
late
,
”
Katharine
replied
.
Without
understanding
her
,
Mary
began
to
pity
her
for
what
she
was
suffering
.
“
Nonsense
,
”
she
said
,
taking
her
hand
and
rubbing
it
.
“
If
we
don’t
find
him
there
we
shall
find
him
somewhere
else
.
”
“
But
suppose
he’s
walking
about
the
streets
—
for
hours
and
hours
?
”
She
leant
forward
and
looked
out
of
the
window
.
“
He
may
refuse
ever
to
speak
to
me
again
,
”
she
said
in
a
low
voice
,
almost
to
herself
.
The
exaggeration
was
so
immense
that
Mary
did
not
attempt
to
cope
with
it
,
save
by
keeping
hold
of
Katharine’s
wrist
.
She
half
expected
that
Katharine
might
open
the
door
suddenly
and
jump
out
.
Perhaps
Katharine
perceived
the
purpose
with
which
her
hand
was
held
.
“
Don’t
be
frightened
,
”
she
said
,
with
a
little
laugh
.
“
I’m
not
going
to
jump
out
of
the
cab
.
It
wouldn’t
do
much
good
after
all
.
”
Upon
this
,
Mary
ostentatiously
withdrew
her
hand
.
“
I
ought
to
have
apologized
,
”
Katharine
continued
,
with
an
effort
,
“
for
bringing
you
into
all
this
business
;
I
haven’t
told
you
half
,
either
.
I’m
no
longer
engaged
to
William
Rodney
.
He
is
to
marry
Cassandra
Otway
.
It’s
all
arranged
—
all
perfectly
right
...
.
And
after
he’d
waited
in
the
streets
for
hours
and
hours
,
William
made
me
bring
him
in
.
He
was
standing
under
the
lamp-post
watching
our
windows
.
He
was
perfectly
white
when
he
came
into
the
room
.
William
left
us
alone
,
and
we
sat
and
talked
.
It
seems
ages
and
ages
ago
,
now
.
Was
it
last
night
?
Have
I
been
out
long
?
What’s
the
time
?
”
She
sprang
forward
to
catch
sight
of
a
clock
,
as
if
the
exact
time
had
some
important
bearing
on
her
case
.
“
Only
half-past
eight
!
”
she
exclaimed
.
“
Then
he
may
be
there
still
.
”
She
leant
out
of
the
window
and
told
the
cabman
to
drive
faster
.
“
But
if
he’s
not
there
,
what
shall
I
do
?
Where
could
I
find
him
?
The
streets
are
so
crowded
.
”
“
We
shall
find
him
,
”
Mary
repeated
.
Mary
had
no
doubt
but
that
somehow
or
other
they
would
find
him
.
But
suppose
they
did
find
him
?
She
began
to
think
of
Ralph
with
a
sort
of
strangeness
,
in
her
effort
to
understand
how
he
could
be
capable
of
satisfying
this
extraordinary
desire
.
Once
more
she
thought
herself
back
to
her
old
view
of
him
and
could
,
with
an
effort
,
recall
the
haze
which
surrounded
his
figure
,
and
the
sense
of
confused
,
heightened
exhilaration
which
lay
all
about
his
neighborhood
,
so
that
for
months
at
a
time
she
had
never
exactly
heard
his
voice
or
seen
his
face
—
or
so
it
now
seemed
to
her
.
The
pain
of
her
loss
shot
through
her
.
Nothing
would
ever
make
up
—
not
success
,
or
happiness
,
or
oblivion
.
But
this
pang
was
immediately
followed
by
the
assurance
that
now
,
at
any
rate
,
she
knew
the
truth
;
and
Katharine
,
she
thought
,
stealing
a
look
at
her
,
did
not
know
the
truth
;
yes
,
Katharine
was
immensely
to
be
pitied
.
The
cab
,
which
had
been
caught
in
the
traffic
,
was
now
liberated
and
sped
on
down
Sloane
Street
.
Mary
was
conscious
of
the
tension
with
which
Katharine
marked
its
progress
,
as
if
her
mind
were
fixed
upon
a
point
in
front
of
them
,
and
marked
,
second
by
second
,
their
approach
to
it
.
She
said
nothing
,
and
in
silence
Mary
began
to
fix
her
mind
,
in
sympathy
at
first
,
and
later
in
forgetfulness
of
her
companion
,
upon
a
point
in
front
of
them
.
She
imagined
a
point
distant
as
a
low
star
upon
the
horizon
of
the
dark
.
There
for
her
too
,
for
them
both
,
was
the
goal
for
which
they
were
striving
,
and
the
end
for
the
ardors
of
their
spirits
was
the
same
:
but
where
it
was
,
or
what
it
was
,
or
why
she
felt
convinced
that
they
were
united
in
search
of
it
,
as
they
drove
swiftly
down
the
streets
of
London
side
by
side
,
she
could
not
have
said
.
“
At
last
,
”
Katharine
breathed
,
as
the
cab
drew
up
at
the
door
.
She
jumped
out
and
scanned
the
pavement
on
either
side
.
Mary
,
meanwhile
,
rang
the
bell
.
The
door
opened
as
Katharine
assured
herself
that
no
one
of
the
people
within
view
had
any
likeness
to
Ralph
.
On
seeing
her
,
the
maid
said
at
once
:
“
Mr.
Denham
called
again
,
miss.
He
has
been
waiting
for
you
for
some
time
.
”
Katharine
vanished
from
Mary’s
sight
.
The
door
shut
between
them
,
and
Mary
walked
slowly
and
thoughtfully
up
the
street
alone
.
Katharine
turned
at
once
to
the
dining-room
.
But
with
her
fingers
upon
the
handle
,
she
held
back
.
Perhaps
she
realized
that
this
was
a
moment
which
would
never
come
again
.
Perhaps
,
for
a
second
,
it
seemed
to
her
that
no
reality
could
equal
the
imagination
she
had
formed
.
Perhaps
she
was
restrained
by
some
vague
fear
or
anticipation
,
which
made
her
dread
any
exchange
or
interruption
.
But
if
these
doubts
and
fears
or
this
supreme
bliss
restrained
her
,
it
was
only
for
a
moment
.
In
another
second
she
had
turned
the
handle
and
,
biting
her
lip
to
control
herself
,
she
opened
the
door
upon
Ralph
Denham
.
An
extraordinary
clearness
of
sight
seemed
to
possess
her
on
beholding
him
.
So
little
,
so
single
,
so
separate
from
all
else
he
appeared
,
who
had
been
the
cause
of
these
extreme
agitations
and
aspirations
.
She
could
have
laughed
in
his
face
.
But
,
gaining
upon
this
clearness
of
sight
against
her
will
,
and
to
her
dislike
,
was
a
flood
of
confusion
,
of
relief
,
of
certainty
,
of
humility
,
of
desire
no
longer
to
strive
and
to
discriminate
,
yielding
to
which
,
she
let
herself
sink
within
his
arms
and
confessed
her
love
.
CHAPTER
XXXII
Nobody
asked
Katharine
any
questions
next
day
.
If
cross-examined
she
might
have
said
that
nobody
spoke
to
her
.
She
worked
a
little
,
wrote
a
little
,
ordered
the
dinner
,
and
sat
,
for
longer
than
she
knew
,
with
her
head
on
her
hand
piercing
whatever
lay
before
her
,
whether
it
was
a
letter
or
a
dictionary
,
as
if
it
were
a
film
upon
the
deep
prospects
that
revealed
themselves
to
her
kindling
and
brooding
eyes
.
She
rose
once
,
and
going
to
the
bookcase
,
took
out
her
father’s
Greek
dictionary
and
spread
the
sacred
pages
of
symbols
and
figures
before
her
.
She
smoothed
the
sheets
with
a
mixture
of
affectionate
amusement
and
hope
.
Would
other
eyes
look
on
them
with
her
one
day
?
The
thought
,
long
intolerable
,
was
now
just
bearable
.
She
was
quite
unaware
of
the
anxiety
with
which
her
movements
were
watched
and
her
expression
scanned
.
Cassandra
was
careful
not
to
be
caught
looking
at
her
,
and
their
conversation
was
so
prosaic
that
were
it
not
for
certain
jolts
and
jerks
between
the
sentences
,
as
if
the
mind
were
kept
with
difficulty
to
the
rails
,
Mrs.
Milvain
herself
could
have
detected
nothing
of
a
suspicious
nature
in
what
she
overheard
.
William
,
when
he
came
in
late
that
afternoon
and
found
Cassandra
alone
,
had
a
very
serious
piece
of
news
to
impart
.
He
had
just
passed
Katharine
in
the
street
and
she
had
failed
to
recognize
him
.
“
That
doesn’t
matter
with
me
,
of
course
,
but
suppose
it
happened
with
somebody
else
?
What
would
they
think
?
They
would
suspect
something
merely
from
her
expression
.
She
looked
—
she
looked
”
—
he
hesitated
—
“
like
some
one
walking
in
her
sleep
.
”
To
Cassandra
the
significant
thing
was
that
Katharine
had
gone
out
without
telling
her
,
and
she
interpreted
this
to
mean
that
she
had
gone
out
to
meet
Ralph
Denham
.
But
to
her
surprise
William
drew
no
comfort
from
this
probability
.
“
Once
throw
conventions
aside
,
”
he
began
,
“
once
do
the
things
that
people
don’t
do
—
”
and
the
fact
that
you
are
going
to
meet
a
young
man
is
no
longer
proof
of
anything
,
except
,
indeed
,
that
people
will
talk
.
Cassandra
saw
,
not
without
a
pang
of
jealousy
,
that
he
was
extremely
solicitous
that
people
should
not
talk
about
Katharine
,
as
if
his
interest
in
her
were
still
proprietary
rather
than
friendly
.
As
they
were
both
ignorant
of
Ralph’s
visit
the
night
before
they
had
not
that
reason
to
comfort
themselves
with
the
thought
that
matters
were
hastening
to
a
crisis
.
These
absences
of
Katharine’s
,
moreover
,
left
them
exposed
to
interruptions
which
almost
destroyed
their
pleasure
in
being
alone
together
.
The
rainy
evening
made
it
impossible
to
go
out
;
and
,
indeed
,
according
to
William’s
code
,
it
was
considerably
more
damning
to
be
seen
out
of
doors
than
surprised
within
.
They
were
so
much
at
the
mercy
of
bells
and
doors
that
they
could
hardly
talk
of
Macaulay
with
any
conviction
,
and
William
preferred
to
defer
the
second
act
of
his
tragedy
until
another
day
.
Under
these
circumstances
Cassandra
showed
herself
at
her
best
.
She
sympathized
with
William’s
anxieties
and
did
her
utmost
to
share
them
;
but
still
,
to
be
alone
together
,
to
be
running
risks
together
,
to
be
partners
in
the
wonderful
conspiracy
,
was
to
her
so
enthralling
that
she
was
always
forgetting
discretion
,
breaking
out
into
exclamations
and
admirations
which
finally
made
William
believe
that
,
although
deplorable
and
upsetting
,
the
situation
was
not
without
its
sweetness
.
When
the
door
did
open
,
he
started
,
but
braved
the
forthcoming
revelation
.
It
was
not
Mrs.
Milvain
,
however
,
but
Katharine
herself
who
entered
,
closely
followed
by
Ralph
Denham
.
With
a
set
expression
which
showed
what
an
effort
she
was
making
,
Katharine
encountered
their
eyes
,
and
saying
,
“
We’re
not
going
to
interrupt
you
,
”
she
led
Denham
behind
the
curtain
which
hung
in
front
of
the
room
with
the
relics
.
This
refuge
was
none
of
her
willing
,
but
confronted
with
wet
pavements
and
only
some
belated
museum
or
Tube
station
for
shelter
,
she
was
forced
,
for
Ralph’s
sake
,
to
face
the
discomforts
of
her
own
house
.
Under
the
street
lamps
she
had
thought
him
looking
both
tired
and
strained
.
Thus
separated
,
the
two
couples
remained
occupied
for
some
time
with
their
own
affairs
.
Only
the
lowest
murmurs
penetrated
from
one
section
of
the
room
to
the
other
.
At
length
the
maid
came
in
to
bring
a
message
that
Mr.
Hilbery
would
not
be
home
for
dinner
.
It
was
true
that
there
was
no
need
that
Katharine
should
be
informed
,
but
William
began
to
inquire
Cassandra’s
opinion
in
such
a
way
as
to
show
that
,
with
or
without
reason
,
he
wished
very
much
to
speak
to
her
.
From
motives
of
her
own
Cassandra
dissuaded
him
.
“
But
don’t
you
think
it’s
a
little
unsociable
?
”
he
hazarded
.
“
Why
not
do
something
amusing
?
—
go
to
the
play
,
for
instance
?
Why
not
ask
Katharine
and
Ralph
,
eh
?
”
The
coupling
of
their
names
in
this
manner
caused
Cassandra’s
heart
to
leap
with
pleasure
.
“
Don’t
you
think
they
must
be
—
?
”
she
began
,
but
William
hastily
took
her
up
.
“
Oh
,
I
know
nothing
about
that
.
I
only
thought
we
might
amuse
ourselves
,
as
your
uncle’s
out
.
”
He
proceeded
on
his
embassy
with
a
mixture
of
excitement
and
embarrassment
which
caused
him
to
turn
aside
with
his
hand
on
the
curtain
,
and
to
examine
intently
for
several
moments
the
portrait
of
a
lady
,
optimistically
said
by
Mrs.
Hilbery
to
be
an
early
work
of
Sir
Joshua
Reynolds
.
Then
,
with
some
unnecessary
fumbling
,
he
drew
aside
the
curtain
,
and
with
his
eyes
fixed
upon
the
ground
,
repeated
his
message
and
suggested
that
they
should
all
spend
the
evening
at
the
play
.
Katharine
accepted
the
suggestion
with
such
cordiality
that
it
was
strange
to
find
her
of
no
clear
mind
as
to
the
precise
spectacle
she
wished
to
see
.
She
left
the
choice
entirely
to
Ralph
and
William
,
who
,
taking
counsel
fraternally
over
an
evening
paper
,
found
themselves
in
agreement
as
to
the
merits
of
a
music-hall
.
This
being
arranged
,
everything
else
followed
easily
and
enthusiastically
.
Cassandra
had
never
been
to
a
music-hall
.
Katharine
instructed
her
in
the
peculiar
delights
of
an
entertainment
where
Polar
bears
follow
directly
upon
ladies
in
full
evening
dress
,
and
the
stage
is
alternately
a
garden
of
mystery
,
a
milliner’s
band-box
,
and
a
fried-fish
shop
in
the
Mile
End
Road
.
Whatever
the
exact
nature
of
the
program
that
night
,
it
fulfilled
the
highest
purposes
of
dramatic
art
,
so
far
,
at
least
,
as
four
of
the
audience
were
concerned
.
No
doubt
the
actors
and
the
authors
would
have
been
surprised
to
learn
in
what
shape
their
efforts
reached
those
particular
eyes
and
ears
;
but
they
could
not
have
denied
that
the
effect
as
a
whole
was
tremendous
.
The
hall
resounded
with
brass
and
strings
,
alternately
of
enormous
pomp
and
majesty
,
and
then
of
sweetest
lamentation
.
The
reds
and
creams
of
the
background
,
the
lyres
and
harps
and
urns
and
skulls
,
the
protuberances
of
plaster
,
the
fringes
of
scarlet
plush
,
the
sinking
and
blazing
of
innumerable
electric
lights
,
could
scarcely
have
been
surpassed
for
decorative
effect
by
any
craftsman
of
the
ancient
or
modern
world
.
Then
there
was
the
audience
itself
,
bare-shouldered
,
tufted
and
garlanded
in
the
stalls
,
decorous
but
festal
in
the
balconies
,
and
frankly
fit
for
daylight
and
street
life
in
the
galleries
.
But
,
however
they
differed
when
looked
at
separately
,
they
shared
the
same
huge
,
lovable
nature
in
the
bulk
,
which
murmured
and
swayed
and
quivered
all
the
time
the
dancing
and
juggling
and
love-making
went
on
in
front
of
it
,
slowly
laughed
and
reluctantly
left
off
laughing
,
and
applauded
with
a
helter-skelter
generosity
which
sometimes
became
unanimous
and
overwhelming
.
Once
William
saw
Katharine
leaning
forward
and
clapping
her
hands
with
an
abandonment
that
startled
him
.
Her
laugh
rang
out
with
the
laughter
of
the
audience
.
For
a
second
he
was
puzzled
,
as
if
this
laughter
disclosed
something
that
he
had
never
suspected
in
her
.
But
then
Cassandra’s
face
caught
his
eye
,
gazing
with
astonishment
at
the
buffoon
,
not
laughing
,
too
deeply
intent
and
surprised
to
laugh
at
what
she
saw
,
and
for
some
moments
he
watched
her
as
if
she
were
a
child
.
The
performance
came
to
an
end
,
the
illusion
dying
out
first
here
and
then
there
,
as
some
rose
to
put
on
their
coats
,
others
stood
upright
to
salute
“
God
Save
the
King
,
”
the
musicians
folded
their
music
and
encased
their
instruments
,
and
the
lights
sank
one
by
one
until
the
house
was
empty
,
silent
,
and
full
of
great
shadows
.
Looking
back
over
her
shoulder
as
she
followed
Ralph
through
the
swing
doors
,
Cassandra
marveled
to
see
how
the
stage
was
already
entirely
without
romance
.
But
,
she
wondered
,
did
they
really
cover
all
the
seats
in
brown
holland
every
night
?
The
success
of
this
entertainment
was
such
that
before
they
separated
another
expedition
had
been
planned
for
the
next
day
.
The
next
day
was
Saturday
;
therefore
both
William
and
Ralph
were
free
to
devote
the
whole
afternoon
to
an
expedition
to
Greenwich
,
which
Cassandra
had
never
seen
,
and
Katharine
confused
with
Dulwich
.
On
this
occasion
Ralph
was
their
guide
.
He
brought
them
without
accident
to
Greenwich
.
What
exigencies
of
state
or
fantasies
of
imagination
first
gave
birth
to
the
cluster
of
pleasant
places
by
which
London
is
surrounded
is
matter
of
indifference
now
that
they
have
adapted
themselves
so
admirably
to
the
needs
of
people
between
the
ages
of
twenty
and
thirty
with
Saturday
afternoons
to
spend
.
Indeed
,
if
ghosts
have
any
interest
in
the
affections
of
those
who
succeed
them
they
must
reap
their
richest
harvests
when
the
fine
weather
comes
again
and
the
lovers
,
the
sightseers
,
and
the
holiday-makers
pour
themselves
out
of
trains
and
omnibuses
into
their
old
pleasure-grounds
.
It
is
true
that
they
go
,
for
the
most
part
,
unthanked
by
name
,
although
upon
this
occasion
William
was
ready
to
give
such
discriminating
praise
as
the
dead
architects
and
painters
received
seldom
in
the
course
of
the
year
.
They
were
walking
by
the
river
bank
,
and
Katharine
and
Ralph
,
lagging
a
little
behind
,
caught
fragments
of
his
lecture
.
Katharine
smiled
at
the
sound
of
his
voice
;
she
listened
as
if
she
found
it
a
little
unfamiliar
,
intimately
though
she
knew
it
;
she
tested
it
.
The
note
of
assurance
and
happiness
was
new
.
William
was
very
happy
.
She
learnt
every
hour
what
sources
of
his
happiness
she
had
neglected
.
She
had
never
asked
him
to
teach
her
anything
;
she
had
never
consented
to
read
Macaulay
;
she
had
never
expressed
her
belief
that
his
play
was
second
only
to
the
works
of
Shakespeare
.
She
followed
dreamily
in
their
wake
,
smiling
and
delighting
in
the
sound
which
conveyed
,
she
knew
,
the
rapturous
and
yet
not
servile
assent
of
Cassandra
.
Then
she
murmured
,
“
How
can
Cassandra
—
”
but
changed
her
sentence
to
the
opposite
of
what
she
meant
to
say
and
ended
,
“
how
could
she
herself
have
been
so
blind
?
”
But
it
was
unnecessary
to
follow
out
such
riddles
when
the
presence
of
Ralph
supplied
her
with
more
interesting
problems
,
which
somehow
became
involved
with
the
little
boat
crossing
the
river
,
the
majestic
and
careworn
City
,
and
the
steamers
homecoming
with
their
treasury
,
or
starting
in
search
of
it
,
so
that
infinite
leisure
would
be
necessary
for
the
proper
disentanglement
of
one
from
the
other
.
He
stopped
,
moreover
,
and
began
inquiring
of
an
old
boatman
as
to
the
tides
and
the
ships
.
In
thus
talking
he
seemed
different
,
and
even
looked
different
,
she
thought
,
against
the
river
,
with
the
steeples
and
towers
for
background
.
His
strangeness
,
his
romance
,
his
power
to
leave
her
side
and
take
part
in
the
affairs
of
men
,
the
possibility
that
they
should
together
hire
a
boat
and
cross
the
river
,
the
speed
and
wildness
of
this
enterprise
filled
her
mind
and
inspired
her
with
such
rapture
,
half
of
love
and
half
of
adventure
,
that
William
and
Cassandra
were
startled
from
their
talk
,
and
Cassandra
exclaimed
,
“
She
looks
as
if
she
were
offering
up
a
sacrifice
!
Very
beautiful
,
”
she
added
quickly
,
though
she
repressed
,
in
deference
to
William
,
her
own
wonder
that
the
sight
of
Ralph
Denham
talking
to
a
boatman
on
the
banks
of
the
Thames
could
move
any
one
to
such
an
attitude
of
adoration
.
That
afternoon
,
what
with
tea
and
the
curiosities
of
the
Thames
tunnel
and
the
unfamiliarity
of
the
streets
,
passed
so
quickly
that
the
only
method
of
prolonging
it
was
to
plan
another
expedition
for
the
following
day
.
Hampton
Court
was
decided
upon
,
in
preference
to
Hampstead
,
for
though
Cassandra
had
dreamt
as
a
child
of
the
brigands
of
Hampstead
,
she
had
now
transferred
her
affections
completely
and
for
ever
to
William
III
.
Accordingly
,
they
arrived
at
Hampton
Court
about
lunch-time
on
a
fine
Sunday
morning
.
Such
unity
marked
their
expressions
of
admiration
for
the
red-brick
building
that
they
might
have
come
there
for
no
other
purpose
than
to
assure
each
other
that
this
palace
was
the
stateliest
palace
in
the
world
.
They
walked
up
and
down
the
Terrace
,
four
abreast
,
and
fancied
themselves
the
owners
of
the
place
,
and
calculated
the
amount
of
good
to
the
world
produced
indubitably
by
such
a
tenancy
.
“
The
only
hope
for
us
,
”
said
Katharine
,
“
is
that
William
shall
die
,
and
Cassandra
shall
be
given
rooms
as
the
widow
of
a
distinguished
poet
.
”
“
Or
—
”
Cassandra
began
,
but
checked
herself
from
the
liberty
of
envisaging
Katharine
as
the
widow
of
a
distinguished
lawyer
.
Upon
this
,
the
third
day
of
junketing
,
it
was
tiresome
to
have
to
restrain
oneself
even
from
such
innocent
excursions
of
fancy
.
She
dared
not
question
William
;
he
was
inscrutable
;
he
never
seemed
even
to
follow
the
other
couple
with
curiosity
when
they
separated
,
as
they
frequently
did
,
to
name
a
plant
,
or
examine
a
fresco
.
Cassandra
was
constantly
studying
their
backs
.
She
noticed
how
sometimes
the
impulse
to
move
came
from
Katharine
,
and
sometimes
from
Ralph
;
how
,
sometimes
,
they
walked
slow
,
as
if
in
profound
intercourse
,
and
sometimes
fast
,
as
if
in
passionate
.
When
they
came
together
again
nothing
could
be
more
unconcerned
than
their
manner
.
“
We
have
been
wondering
whether
they
ever
catch
a
fish
...
”
or
,
“
We
must
leave
time
to
visit
the
Maze
.
”
Then
,
to
puzzle
her
further
,
William
and
Ralph
filled
in
all
interstices
of
meal-times
or
railway
journeys
with
perfectly
good-tempered
arguments
;
or
they
discussed
politics
,
or
they
told
stories
,
or
they
did
sums
together
upon
the
backs
of
old
envelopes
to
prove
something
.
She
suspected
that
Katharine
was
absent-minded
,
but
it
was
impossible
to
tell
.
There
were
moments
when
she
felt
so
young
and
inexperienced
that
she
almost
wished
herself
back
with
the
silkworms
at
Stogdon
House
,
and
not
embarked
upon
this
bewildering
intrigue
.
These
moments
,
however
,
were
only
the
necessary
shadow
or
chill
which
proved
the
substance
of
her
bliss
,
and
did
not
damage
the
radiance
which
seemed
to
rest
equally
upon
the
whole
party
.
The
fresh
air
of
spring
,
the
sky
washed
of
clouds
and
already
shedding
warmth
from
its
blue
,
seemed
the
reply
vouchsafed
by
nature
to
the
mood
of
her
chosen
spirits
.
These
chosen
spirits
were
to
be
found
also
among
the
deer
,
dumbly
basking
,
and
among
the
fish
,
set
still
in
mid-stream
,
for
they
were
mute
sharers
in
a
benignant
state
not
needing
any
exposition
by
the
tongue
.
No
words
that
Cassandra
could
come
by
expressed
the
stillness
,
the
brightness
,
the
air
of
expectancy
which
lay
upon
the
orderly
beauty
of
the
grass
walks
and
gravel
paths
down
which
they
went
walking
four
abreast
that
Sunday
afternoon
.
Silently
the
shadows
of
the
trees
lay
across
the
broad
sunshine
;
silence
wrapt
her
heart
in
its
folds
.
The
quivering
stillness
of
the
butterfly
on
the
half-opened
flower
,
the
silent
grazing
of
the
deer
in
the
sun
,
were
the
sights
her
eye
rested
upon
and
received
as
the
images
of
her
own
nature
laid
open
to
happiness
and
trembling
in
its
ecstasy
.
But
the
afternoon
wore
on
,
and
it
became
time
to
leave
the
gardens
.
As
they
drove
from
Waterloo
to
Chelsea
,
Katharine
began
to
have
some
compunction
about
her
father
,
which
,
together
with
the
opening
of
offices
and
the
need
of
working
in
them
on
Monday
,
made
it
difficult
to
plan
another
festival
for
the
following
day
.
Mr.
Hilbery
had
taken
their
absence
,
so
far
,
with
paternal
benevolence
,
but
they
could
not
trespass
upon
it
indefinitely
.
Indeed
,
had
they
known
it
,
he
was
already
suffering
from
their
absence
,
and
longing
for
their
return
.
He
had
no
dislike
of
solitude
,
and
Sunday
,
in
particular
,
was
pleasantly
adapted
for
letter-writing
,
paying
calls
,
or
a
visit
to
his
club
.
He
was
leaving
the
house
on
some
such
suitable
expedition
towards
tea-time
when
he
found
himself
stopped
on
his
own
doorstep
by
his
sister
,
Mrs.
Milvain
.
She
should
,
on
hearing
that
no
one
was
at
home
,
have
withdrawn
submissively
,
but
instead
she
accepted
his
half-hearted
invitation
to
come
in
,
and
he
found
himself
in
the
melancholy
position
of
being
forced
to
order
tea
for
her
and
sit
in
the
drawing-room
while
she
drank
it
.
She
speedily
made
it
plain
that
she
was
only
thus
exacting
because
she
had
come
on
a
matter
of
business
.
He
was
by
no
means
exhilarated
at
the
news
.
“
Katharine
is
out
this
afternoon
,
”
he
remarked
.
“
Why
not
come
round
later
and
discuss
it
with
her
—
with
us
both
,
eh
?
”
“
My
dear
Trevor
,
I
have
particular
reasons
for
wishing
to
talk
to
you
alone
...
.
Where
is
Katharine
?
”
“
She’s
out
with
her
young
man
,
naturally
.
Cassandra
plays
the
part
of
chaperone
very
usefully
.
A
charming
young
woman
that
—
a
great
favorite
of
mine
.
”
He
turned
his
stone
between
his
fingers
,
and
conceived
different
methods
of
leading
Celia
away
from
her
obsession
,
which
,
he
supposed
,
must
have
reference
to
the
domestic
affairs
of
Cyril
as
usual
.
“
With
Cassandra
,
”
Mrs.
Milvain
repeated
significantly
.
“
With
Cassandra
.
”
“
Yes
,
with
Cassandra
,
”
Mr.
Hilbery
agreed
urbanely
,
pleased
at
the
diversion
.
“
I
think
they
said
they
were
going
to
Hampton
Court
,
and
I
rather
believe
they
were
taking
a
protege
of
mine
,
Ralph
Denham
,
a
very
clever
fellow
,
too
,
to
amuse
Cassandra
.
I
thought
the
arrangement
very
suitable
.
”
He
was
prepared
to
dwell
at
some
length
upon
this
safe
topic
,
and
trusted
that
Katharine
would
come
in
before
he
had
done
with
it
.
“
Hampton
Court
always
seems
to
me
an
ideal
spot
for
engaged
couples
.
There’s
the
Maze
,
there’s
a
nice
place
for
having
tea
—
I
forget
what
they
call
it
—
and
then
,
if
the
young
man
knows
his
business
he
contrives
to
take
his
lady
upon
the
river
.
Full
of
possibilities
—
full
.
Cake
,
Celia
?
”
Mr.
Hilbery
continued
.
“
I
respect
my
dinner
too
much
,
but
that
can’t
possibly
apply
to
you
.
You’ve
never
observed
that
feast
,
so
far
as
I
can
remember
.
”
Her
brother’s
affability
did
not
deceive
Mrs.
Milvain
;
it
slightly
saddened
her
;
she
well
knew
the
cause
of
it
.
Blind
and
infatuated
as
usual
!
“
Who
is
this
Mr.
Denham
?
”
she
asked
.
“
Ralph
Denham
?
”
said
Mr.
Hilbery
,
in
relief
that
her
mind
had
taken
this
turn
.
“
A
very
interesting
young
man
.
I’ve
a
great
belief
in
him
