thehall
after
breakfast
the
next
morning
in
order
to
question
him
.
“
Have
you
told
mother
?
”
she
asked
.
Her
manner
to
her
father
was
almost
stern
,
and
she
seemed
to
hold
endless
depths
of
reflection
in
the
dark
of
her
eyes
.
Mr.
Hilbery
sighed
.
“
My
dear
child
,
it
went
out
of
my
head
.
”
He
smoothed
his
silk
hat
energetically
,
and
at
once
affected
an
air
of
hurry
.
“
I’ll
send
a
note
round
from
the
office
...
.
I’m
late
this
morning
,
and
I’ve
any
amount
of
proofs
to
get
through
.
”
“
That
wouldn’t
do
at
all
,
”
Katharine
said
decidedly
.
“
She
must
be
told
—
you
or
I
must
tell
her
.
We
ought
to
have
told
her
at
first
.
”
Mr.
Hilbery
had
now
placed
his
hat
on
his
head
,
and
his
hand
was
on
the
door-knob
.
An
expression
which
Katharine
knew
well
from
her
childhood
,
when
he
asked
her
to
shield
him
in
some
neglect
of
duty
,
came
into
his
eyes
;
malice
,
humor
,
and
irresponsibility
were
blended
in
it
.
He
nodded
his
head
to
and
fro
significantly
,
opened
the
door
with
an
adroit
movement
,
and
stepped
out
with
a
lightness
unexpected
at
his
age
.
He
waved
his
hand
once
to
his
daughter
,
and
was
gone
.
Left
alone
,
Katharine
could
not
help
laughing
to
find
herself
cheated
as
usual
in
domestic
bargainings
with
her
father
,
and
left
to
do
the
disagreeable
work
which
belonged
,
by
rights
,
to
him
.
CHAPTER
IX
Katharine
disliked
telling
her
mother
about
Cyril’s
misbehavior
quite
as
much
as
her
father
did
,
and
for
much
the
same
reasons
.
They
both
shrank
,
nervously
,
as
people
fear
the
report
of
a
gun
on
the
stage
,
from
all
that
would
have
to
be
said
on
this
occasion
.
Katharine
,
moreover
,
was
unable
to
decide
what
she
thought
of
Cyril’s
misbehavior
.
As
usual
,
she
saw
something
which
her
father
and
mother
did
not
see
,
and
the
effect
of
that
something
was
to
suspend
Cyril’s
behavior
in
her
mind
without
any
qualification
at
all
.
They
would
think
whether
it
was
good
or
bad
;
to
her
it
was
merely
a
thing
that
had
happened
.
When
Katharine
reached
the
study
,
Mrs.
Hilbery
had
already
dipped
her
pen
in
the
ink
.
“
Katharine
,
”
she
said
,
lifting
it
in
the
air
,
“
I’ve
just
made
out
such
a
queer
,
strange
thing
about
your
grandfather
.
I’m
three
years
and
six
months
older
than
he
was
when
he
died
.
I
couldn’t
very
well
have
been
his
mother
,
but
I
might
have
been
his
elder
sister
,
and
that
seems
to
me
such
a
pleasant
fancy
.
I’m
going
to
start
quite
fresh
this
morning
,
and
get
a
lot
done
.
”
She
began
her
sentence
,
at
any
rate
,
and
Katharine
sat
down
at
her
own
table
,
untied
the
bundle
of
old
letters
upon
which
she
was
working
,
smoothed
them
out
absent-mindedly
,
and
began
to
decipher
the
faded
script
.
In
a
minute
she
looked
across
at
her
mother
,
to
judge
her
mood
.
Peace
and
happiness
had
relaxed
every
muscle
in
her
face
;
her
lips
were
parted
very
slightly
,
and
her
breath
came
in
smooth
,
controlled
inspirations
like
those
of
a
child
who
is
surrounding
itself
with
a
building
of
bricks
,
and
increasing
in
ecstasy
as
each
brick
is
placed
in
position
.
So
Mrs.
Hilbery
was
raising
round
her
the
skies
and
trees
of
the
past
with
every
stroke
of
her
pen
,
and
recalling
the
voices
of
the
dead
.
Quiet
as
the
room
was
,
and
undisturbed
by
the
sounds
of
the
present
moment
,
Katharine
could
fancy
that
here
was
a
deep
pool
of
past
time
,
and
that
she
and
her
mother
were
bathed
in
the
light
of
sixty
years
ago
.
What
could
the
present
give
,
she
wondered
,
to
compare
with
the
rich
crowd
of
gifts
bestowed
by
the
past
?
Here
was
a
Thursday
morning
in
process
of
manufacture
;
each
second
was
minted
fresh
by
the
clock
upon
the
mantelpiece
.
She
strained
her
ears
and
could
just
hear
,
far
off
,
the
hoot
of
a
motor-car
and
the
rush
of
wheels
coming
nearer
and
dying
away
again
,
and
the
voices
of
men
crying
old
iron
and
vegetables
in
one
of
the
poorer
streets
at
the
back
of
the
house
.
Rooms
,
of
course
,
accumulate
their
suggestions
,
and
any
room
in
which
one
has
been
used
to
carry
on
any
particular
occupation
gives
off
memories
of
moods
,
of
ideas
,
of
postures
that
have
been
seen
in
it
;
so
that
to
attempt
any
different
kind
of
work
there
is
almost
impossible
.
Katharine
was
unconsciously
affected
,
each
time
she
entered
her
mother’s
room
,
by
all
these
influences
,
which
had
had
their
birth
years
ago
,
when
she
was
a
child
,
and
had
something
sweet
and
solemn
about
them
,
and
connected
themselves
with
early
memories
of
the
cavernous
glooms
and
sonorous
echoes
of
the
Abbey
where
her
grandfather
lay
buried
.
All
the
books
and
pictures
,
even
the
chairs
and
tables
,
had
belonged
to
him
,
or
had
reference
to
him
;
even
the
china
dogs
on
the
mantelpiece
and
the
little
shepherdesses
with
their
sheep
had
been
bought
by
him
for
a
penny
a
piece
from
a
man
who
used
to
stand
with
a
tray
of
toys
in
Kensington
High
Street
,
as
Katharine
had
often
heard
her
mother
tell
.
Often
she
had
sat
in
this
room
,
with
her
mind
fixed
so
firmly
on
those
vanished
figures
that
she
could
almost
see
the
muscles
round
their
eyes
and
lips
,
and
had
given
to
each
his
own
voice
,
with
its
tricks
of
accent
,
and
his
coat
and
his
cravat
.
Often
she
had
seemed
to
herself
to
be
moving
among
them
,
an
invisible
ghost
among
the
living
,
better
acquainted
with
them
than
with
her
own
friends
,
because
she
knew
their
secrets
and
possessed
a
divine
foreknowledge
of
their
destiny
.
They
had
been
so
unhappy
,
such
muddlers
,
so
wrong-headed
,
it
seemed
to
her
.
She
could
have
told
them
what
to
do
,
and
what
not
to
do
.
It
was
a
melancholy
fact
that
they
would
pay
no
heed
to
her
,
and
were
bound
to
come
to
grief
in
their
own
antiquated
way
.
Their
behavior
was
often
grotesquely
irrational
;
their
conventions
monstrously
absurd
;
and
yet
,
as
she
brooded
upon
them
,
she
felt
so
closely
attached
to
them
that
it
was
useless
to
try
to
pass
judgment
upon
them
.
She
very
nearly
lost
consciousness
that
she
was
a
separate
being
,
with
a
future
of
her
own
.
On
a
morning
of
slight
depression
,
such
as
this
,
she
would
try
to
find
some
sort
of
clue
to
the
muddle
which
their
old
letters
presented
;
some
reason
which
seemed
to
make
it
worth
while
to
them
;
some
aim
which
they
kept
steadily
in
view
—
but
she
was
interrupted
.
Mrs.
Hilbery
had
risen
from
her
table
,
and
was
standing
looking
out
of
the
window
at
a
string
of
barges
swimming
up
the
river
.
Katharine
watched
her
.
Suddenly
Mrs.
Hilbery
turned
abruptly
,
and
exclaimed
:
“
I
really
believe
I’m
bewitched
!
I
only
want
three
sentences
,
you
see
,
something
quite
straightforward
and
commonplace
,
and
I
can’t
find
‘em
.
”
She
began
to
pace
up
and
down
the
room
,
snatching
up
her
duster
;
but
she
was
too
much
annoyed
to
find
any
relief
,
as
yet
,
in
polishing
the
backs
of
books
.
“
Besides
,
”
she
said
,
giving
the
sheet
she
had
written
to
Katharine
,
“
I
don’t
believe
this’ll
do
.
Did
your
grandfather
ever
visit
the
Hebrides
,
Katharine
?
”
She
looked
in
a
strangely
beseeching
way
at
her
daughter
.
“
My
mind
got
running
on
the
Hebrides
,
and
I
couldn’t
help
writing
a
little
description
of
them
.
Perhaps
it
would
do
at
the
beginning
of
a
chapter
.
Chapters
often
begin
quite
differently
from
the
way
they
go
on
,
you
know
.
”
Katharine
read
what
her
mother
had
written
.
She
might
have
been
a
schoolmaster
criticizing
a
child’s
essay
.
Her
face
gave
Mrs.
Hilbery
,
who
watched
it
anxiously
,
no
ground
for
hope
.
“
It’s
very
beautiful
,
”
she
stated
,
“
but
,
you
see
,
mother
,
we
ought
to
go
from
point
to
point
—
”
“
Oh
,
I
know
,
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
exclaimed
.
“
And
that’s
just
what
I
can’t
do
.
Things
keep
coming
into
my
head
.
It
isn’t
that
I
don’t
know
everything
and
feel
everything
(
who
did
know
him
,
if
I
didn’t
?
)
,
but
I
can’t
put
it
down
,
you
see
.
There’s
a
kind
of
blind
spot
,
”
she
said
,
touching
her
forehead
,
“
there
.
And
when
I
can’t
sleep
o’
nights
,
I
fancy
I
shall
die
without
having
done
it
.
”
From
exultation
she
had
passed
to
the
depths
of
depression
which
the
imagination
of
her
death
aroused
.
The
depression
communicated
itself
to
Katharine
.
How
impotent
they
were
,
fiddling
about
all
day
long
with
papers
!
And
the
clock
was
striking
eleven
and
nothing
done
!
She
watched
her
mother
,
now
rummaging
in
a
great
brass-bound
box
which
stood
by
her
table
,
but
she
did
not
go
to
her
help
.
Of
course
,
Katharine
reflected
,
her
mother
had
now
lost
some
paper
,
and
they
would
waste
the
rest
of
the
morning
looking
for
it
.
She
cast
her
eyes
down
in
irritation
,
and
read
again
her
mother’s
musical
sentences
about
the
silver
gulls
,
and
the
roots
of
little
pink
flowers
washed
by
pellucid
streams
,
and
the
blue
mists
of
hyacinths
,
until
she
was
struck
by
her
mother’s
silence
.
She
raised
her
eyes
.
Mrs.
Hilbery
had
emptied
a
portfolio
containing
old
photographs
over
her
table
,
and
was
looking
from
one
to
another
.
“
Surely
,
Katharine
,
”
she
said
,
“
the
men
were
far
handsomer
in
those
days
than
they
are
now
,
in
spite
of
their
odious
whiskers
?
Look
at
old
John
Graham
,
in
his
white
waistcoat
—
look
at
Uncle
Harley
.
That’s
Peter
the
manservant
,
I
suppose
.
Uncle
John
brought
him
back
from
India
.
”
Katharine
looked
at
her
mother
,
but
did
not
stir
or
answer
.
She
had
suddenly
become
very
angry
,
with
a
rage
which
their
relationship
made
silent
,
and
therefore
doubly
powerful
and
critical
.
She
felt
all
the
unfairness
of
the
claim
which
her
mother
tacitly
made
to
her
time
and
sympathy
,
and
what
Mrs.
Hilbery
took
,
Katharine
thought
bitterly
,
she
wasted
.
Then
,
in
a
flash
,
she
remembered
that
she
had
still
to
tell
her
about
Cyril’s
misbehavior
.
Her
anger
immediately
dissipated
itself
;
it
broke
like
some
wave
that
has
gathered
itself
high
above
the
rest
;
the
waters
were
resumed
into
the
sea
again
,
and
Katharine
felt
once
more
full
of
peace
and
solicitude
,
and
anxious
only
that
her
mother
should
be
protected
from
pain
.
She
crossed
the
room
instinctively
,
and
sat
on
the
arm
of
her
mother’s
chair
.
Mrs.
Hilbery
leant
her
head
against
her
daughter’s
body
.
“
What
is
nobler
,
”
she
mused
,
turning
over
the
photographs
,
“
than
to
be
a
woman
to
whom
every
one
turns
,
in
sorrow
or
difficulty
?
How
have
the
young
women
of
your
generation
improved
upon
that
,
Katharine
?
I
can
see
them
now
,
sweeping
over
the
lawns
at
Melbury
House
,
in
their
flounces
and
furbelows
,
so
calm
and
stately
and
imperial
(
and
the
monkey
and
the
little
black
dwarf
following
behind
)
,
as
if
nothing
mattered
in
the
world
but
to
be
beautiful
and
kind
.
But
they
did
more
than
we
do
,
I
sometimes
think
.
They
were
,
and
that’s
better
than
doing
.
They
seem
to
me
like
ships
,
like
majestic
ships
,
holding
on
their
way
,
not
shoving
or
pushing
,
not
fretted
by
little
things
,
as
we
are
,
but
taking
their
way
,
like
ships
with
white
sails
.
”
Katharine
tried
to
interrupt
this
discourse
,
but
the
opportunity
did
not
come
,
and
she
could
not
forbear
to
turn
over
the
pages
of
the
album
in
which
the
old
photographs
were
stored
.
The
faces
of
these
men
and
women
shone
forth
wonderfully
after
the
hubbub
of
living
faces
,
and
seemed
,
as
her
mother
had
said
,
to
wear
a
marvelous
dignity
and
calm
,
as
if
they
had
ruled
their
kingdoms
justly
and
deserved
great
love
.
Some
were
of
almost
incredible
beauty
,
others
were
ugly
enough
in
a
forcible
way
,
but
none
were
dull
or
bored
or
insignificant
.
The
superb
stiff
folds
of
the
crinolines
suited
the
women
;
the
cloaks
and
hats
of
the
gentlemen
seemed
full
of
character
.
Once
more
Katharine
felt
the
serene
air
all
round
her
,
and
seemed
far
off
to
hear
the
solemn
beating
of
the
sea
upon
the
shore
.
But
she
knew
that
she
must
join
the
present
on
to
this
past
.
Mrs.
Hilbery
was
rambling
on
,
from
story
to
story
.
“
That’s
Janie
Mannering
,
”
she
said
,
pointing
to
a
superb
,
white-haired
dame
,
whose
satin
robes
seemed
strung
with
pearls
.
“
I
must
have
told
you
how
she
found
her
cook
drunk
under
the
kitchen
table
when
the
Empress
was
coming
to
dinner
,
and
tucked
up
her
velvet
sleeves
(
she
always
dressed
like
an
Empress
herself
)
,
cooked
the
whole
meal
,
and
appeared
in
the
drawing-room
as
if
she’d
been
sleeping
on
a
bank
of
roses
all
day
.
She
could
do
anything
with
her
hands
—
they
all
could
—
make
a
cottage
or
embroider
a
petticoat
.
“
And
that’s
Queenie
Colquhoun
,
”
she
went
on
,
turning
the
pages
,
“
who
took
her
coffin
out
with
her
to
Jamaica
,
packed
with
lovely
shawls
and
bonnets
,
because
you
couldn’t
get
coffins
in
Jamaica
,
and
she
had
a
horror
of
dying
there
(
as
she
did
)
,
and
being
devoured
by
the
white
ants
.
And
there’s
Sabine
,
the
loveliest
of
them
all
;
ah
!
it
was
like
a
star
rising
when
she
came
into
the
room
.
And
that’s
Miriam
,
in
her
coachman’s
cloak
,
with
all
the
little
capes
on
,
and
she
wore
great
top-boots
underneath
.
You
young
people
may
say
you’re
unconventional
,
but
you’re
nothing
compared
with
her
.
”
Turning
the
page
,
she
came
upon
the
picture
of
a
very
masculine
,
handsome
lady
,
whose
head
the
photographer
had
adorned
with
an
imperial
crown
.
“
Ah
,
you
wretch
!
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
exclaimed
,
“
what
a
wicked
old
despot
you
were
,
in
your
day
!
How
we
all
bowed
down
before
you
!
‘Maggie
,
’
she
used
to
say
,
‘if
it
hadn’t
been
for
me
,
where
would
you
be
now
?
’
And
it
was
true
;
she
brought
them
together
,
you
know
.
She
said
to
my
father
,
‘Marry
her
,
’
and
he
did
;
and
she
said
to
poor
little
Clara
,
‘Fall
down
and
worship
him
,
’
and
she
did
;
but
she
got
up
again
,
of
course
.
What
else
could
one
expect
?
She
was
a
mere
child
—
eighteen
—
and
half
dead
with
fright
,
too
.
But
that
old
tyrant
never
repented
.
She
used
to
say
that
she
had
given
them
three
perfect
months
,
and
no
one
had
a
right
to
more
;
and
I
sometimes
think
,
Katharine
,
that’s
true
,
you
know
.
It’s
more
than
most
of
us
have
,
only
we
have
to
pretend
,
which
was
a
thing
neither
of
them
could
ever
do
.
I
fancy
,
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
mused
,
“
that
there
was
a
kind
of
sincerity
in
those
days
between
men
and
women
which
,
with
all
your
outspokenness
,
you
haven’t
got
.
”
Katharine
again
tried
to
interrupt
.
But
Mrs.
Hilbery
had
been
gathering
impetus
from
her
recollections
,
and
was
now
in
high
spirits
.
“
They
must
have
been
good
friends
at
heart
,
”
she
resumed
,
“
because
she
used
to
sing
his
songs
.
Ah
,
how
did
it
go
?
”
and
Mrs.
Hilbery
,
who
had
a
very
sweet
voice
,
trolled
out
a
famous
lyric
of
her
father’s
which
had
been
set
to
an
absurdly
and
charmingly
sentimental
air
by
some
early
Victorian
composer
.
“
It’s
the
vitality
of
them
!
”
she
concluded
,
striking
her
fist
against
the
table
.
“
That’s
what
we
haven’t
got
!
We’re
virtuous
,
we’re
earnest
,
we
go
to
meetings
,
we
pay
the
poor
their
wages
,
but
we
don’t
live
as
they
lived
.
As
often
as
not
,
my
father
wasn’t
in
bed
three
nights
out
of
the
seven
,
but
always
fresh
as
paint
in
the
morning
.
I
hear
him
now
,
come
singing
up
the
stairs
to
the
nursery
,
and
tossing
the
loaf
for
breakfast
on
his
sword-stick
,
and
then
off
we
went
for
a
day’s
pleasuring
—
Richmond
,
Hampton
Court
,
the
Surrey
Hills
.
Why
shouldn’t
we
go
,
Katharine
?
It’s
going
to
be
a
fine
day
.
”
At
this
moment
,
just
as
Mrs.
Hilbery
was
examining
the
weather
from
the
window
,
there
was
a
knock
at
the
door
.
A
slight
,
elderly
lady
came
in
,
and
was
saluted
by
Katharine
,
with
very
evident
dismay
,
as
“
Aunt
Celia
!
”
She
was
dismayed
because
she
guessed
why
Aunt
Celia
had
come
.
It
was
certainly
in
order
to
discuss
the
case
of
Cyril
and
the
woman
who
was
not
his
wife
,
and
owing
to
her
procrastination
Mrs.
Hilbery
was
quite
unprepared
.
Who
could
be
more
unprepared
?
Here
she
was
,
suggesting
that
all
three
of
them
should
go
on
a
jaunt
to
Blackfriars
to
inspect
the
site
of
Shakespeare’s
theater
,
for
the
weather
was
hardly
settled
enough
for
the
country
.
To
this
proposal
Mrs.
Milvain
listened
with
a
patient
smile
,
which
indicated
that
for
many
years
she
had
accepted
such
eccentricities
in
her
sister-in-law
with
bland
philosophy
.
Katharine
took
up
her
position
at
some
distance
,
standing
with
her
foot
on
the
fender
,
as
though
by
so
doing
she
could
get
a
better
view
of
the
matter
.
But
,
in
spite
of
her
aunt’s
presence
,
how
unreal
the
whole
question
of
Cyril
and
his
morality
appeared
!
The
difficulty
,
it
now
seemed
,
was
not
to
break
the
news
gently
to
Mrs.
Hilbery
,
but
to
make
her
understand
it
.
How
was
one
to
lasso
her
mind
,
and
tether
it
to
this
minute
,
unimportant
spot
?
A
matter-of-fact
statement
seemed
best
.
“
I
think
Aunt
Celia
has
come
to
talk
about
Cyril
,
mother
,
”
she
said
rather
brutally
.
“
Aunt
Celia
has
discovered
that
Cyril
is
married
.
He
has
a
wife
and
children
.
”
“
No
,
he
is
not
married
,
”
Mrs.
Milvain
interposed
,
in
low
tones
,
addressing
herself
to
Mrs.
Hilbery
.
“
He
has
two
children
,
and
another
on
the
way
.
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
looked
from
one
to
the
other
in
bewilderment
.
“
We
thought
it
better
to
wait
until
it
was
proved
before
we
told
you
,
”
Katharine
added
.
“
But
I
met
Cyril
only
a
fortnight
ago
at
the
National
Gallery
!
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
exclaimed
.
“
I
don’t
believe
a
word
of
it
,
”
and
she
tossed
her
head
with
a
smile
on
her
lips
at
Mrs.
Milvain
,
as
though
she
could
quite
understand
her
mistake
,
which
was
a
very
natural
mistake
,
in
the
case
of
a
childless
woman
,
whose
husband
was
something
very
dull
in
the
Board
of
Trade
.
“
I
didn’t
wish
to
believe
it
,
Maggie
,
”
said
Mrs.
Milvain
.
“
For
a
long
time
I
couldn’t
believe
it
.
But
now
I’ve
seen
,
and
I
have
to
believe
it
.
”
“
Katharine
,
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
demanded
,
“
does
your
father
know
of
this
?
”
Katharine
nodded
.
“
Cyril
married
!
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
repeated
.
“
And
never
telling
us
a
word
,
though
we’ve
had
him
in
our
house
since
he
was
a
child
—
noble
William’s
son
!
I
can’t
believe
my
ears
!
”
Feeling
that
the
burden
of
proof
was
laid
upon
her
,
Mrs.
Milvain
now
proceeded
with
her
story
.
She
was
elderly
and
fragile
,
but
her
childlessness
seemed
always
to
impose
these
painful
duties
on
her
,
and
to
revere
the
family
,
and
to
keep
it
in
repair
,
had
now
become
the
chief
object
of
her
life
.
She
told
her
story
in
a
low
,
spasmodic
,
and
somewhat
broken
voice
.
“
I
have
suspected
for
some
time
that
he
was
not
happy
.
There
were
new
lines
on
his
face
.
So
I
went
to
his
rooms
,
when
I
knew
he
was
engaged
at
the
poor
men’s
college
.
He
lectures
there
—
Roman
law
,
you
know
,
or
it
may
be
Greek
.
The
landlady
said
Mr.
Alardyce
only
slept
there
about
once
a
fortnight
now
.
He
looked
so
ill
,
she
said
.
She
had
seen
him
with
a
young
person
.
I
suspected
something
directly
.
I
went
to
his
room
,
and
there
was
an
envelope
on
the
mantelpiece
,
and
a
letter
with
an
address
in
Seton
Street
,
off
the
Kennington
Road
.
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
fidgeted
rather
restlessly
,
and
hummed
fragments
of
her
tune
,
as
if
to
interrupt
.
“
I
went
to
Seton
Street
,
”
Aunt
Celia
continued
firmly
.
“
A
very
low
place
—
lodging-houses
,
you
know
,
with
canaries
in
the
window
.
Number
seven
just
like
all
the
others
.
I
rang
,
I
knocked
;
no
one
came
.
I
went
down
the
area
.
I
am
certain
I
saw
some
one
inside
—
children
—
a
cradle
.
But
no
reply
—
no
reply
.
”
She
sighed
,
and
looked
straight
in
front
of
her
with
a
glazed
expression
in
her
half-veiled
blue
eyes
.
“
I
stood
in
the
street
,
”
she
resumed
,
“
in
case
I
could
catch
a
sight
of
one
of
them
.
It
seemed
a
very
long
time
.
There
were
rough
men
singing
in
the
public-house
round
the
corner
.
At
last
the
door
opened
,
and
some
one
—
it
must
have
been
the
woman
herself
—
came
right
past
me
.
There
was
only
the
pillar-box
between
us
.
”
“
And
what
did
she
look
like
?
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
demanded
.
“
One
could
see
how
the
poor
boy
had
been
deluded
,
”
was
all
that
Mrs.
Milvain
vouchsafed
by
way
of
description
.
“
Poor
thing
!
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
exclaimed
.
“
Poor
Cyril
!
”
Mrs.
Milvain
said
,
laying
a
slight
emphasis
upon
Cyril
.
“
But
they’ve
got
nothing
to
live
upon
,
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
continued
.
“
If
he’d
come
to
us
like
a
man
,
”
she
went
on
,
“
and
said
,
‘I’ve
been
a
fool
,
’
one
would
have
pitied
him
;
one
would
have
tried
to
help
him
.
There’s
nothing
so
disgraceful
after
all
—
But
he’s
been
going
about
all
these
years
,
pretending
,
letting
one
take
it
for
granted
,
that
he
was
single
.
And
the
poor
deserted
little
wife
—
”
“
She
is
not
his
wife
,
”
Aunt
Celia
interrupted
.
“
I’ve
never
heard
anything
so
detestable
!
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
wound
up
,
striking
her
fist
on
the
arm
of
her
chair
.
As
she
realized
the
facts
she
became
thoroughly
disgusted
,
although
,
perhaps
,
she
was
more
hurt
by
the
concealment
of
the
sin
than
by
the
sin
itself
.
She
looked
splendidly
roused
and
indignant
;
and
Katharine
felt
an
immense
relief
and
pride
in
her
mother
.
It
was
plain
that
her
indignation
was
very
genuine
,
and
that
her
mind
was
as
perfectly
focused
upon
the
facts
as
any
one
could
wish
—
more
so
,
by
a
long
way
,
than
Aunt
Celia’s
mind
,
which
seemed
to
be
timidly
circling
,
with
a
morbid
pleasure
,
in
these
unpleasant
shades
.
She
and
her
mother
together
would
take
the
situation
in
hand
,
visit
Cyril
,
and
see
the
whole
thing
through
.
“
We
must
realize
Cyril’s
point
of
view
first
,
”
she
said
,
speaking
directly
to
her
mother
,
as
if
to
a
contemporary
,
but
before
the
words
were
out
of
her
mouth
,
there
was
more
confusion
outside
,
and
Cousin
Caroline
,
Mrs.
Hilbery’s
maiden
cousin
,
entered
the
room
.
Although
she
was
by
birth
an
Alardyce
,
and
Aunt
Celia
a
Hilbery
,
the
complexities
of
the
family
relationship
were
such
that
each
was
at
once
first
and
second
cousin
to
the
other
,
and
thus
aunt
and
cousin
to
the
culprit
Cyril
,
so
that
his
misbehavior
was
almost
as
much
Cousin
Caroline’s
affair
as
Aunt
Celia’s
.
Cousin
Caroline
was
a
lady
of
very
imposing
height
and
circumference
,
but
in
spite
of
her
size
and
her
handsome
trappings
,
there
was
something
exposed
and
unsheltered
in
her
expression
,
as
if
for
many
summers
her
thin
red
skin
and
hooked
nose
and
reduplication
of
chins
,
so
much
resembling
the
profile
of
a
cockatoo
,
had
been
bared
to
the
weather
;
she
was
,
indeed
,
a
single
lady
;
but
she
had
,
it
was
the
habit
to
say
,
“
made
a
life
for
herself
,
”
and
was
thus
entitled
to
be
heard
with
respect
.
“
This
unhappy
business
,
”
she
began
,
out
of
breath
as
she
was
.
“
If
the
train
had
not
gone
out
of
the
station
just
as
I
arrived
,
I
should
have
been
with
you
before
.
Celia
has
doubtless
told
you
.
You
will
agree
with
me
,
Maggie
.
He
must
be
made
to
marry
her
at
once
for
the
sake
of
the
children
—
”
“
But
does
he
refuse
to
marry
her
?
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
inquired
,
with
a
return
of
her
bewilderment
.
“
He
has
written
an
absurd
perverted
letter
,
all
quotations
,
”
Cousin
Caroline
puffed
.
“
He
thinks
he’s
doing
a
very
fine
thing
,
where
we
only
see
the
folly
of
it
...
.
The
girl’s
every
bit
as
infatuated
as
he
is
—
for
which
I
blame
him
.
”
“
She
entangled
him
,
”
Aunt
Celia
intervened
,
with
a
very
curious
smoothness
of
intonation
,
which
seemed
to
convey
a
vision
of
threads
weaving
and
interweaving
a
close
,
white
mesh
round
their
victim
.
“
It’s
no
use
going
into
the
rights
and
wrongs
of
the
affair
now
,
Celia
,
”
said
Cousin
Caroline
with
some
acerbity
,
for
she
believed
herself
the
only
practical
one
of
the
family
,
and
regretted
that
,
owing
to
the
slowness
of
the
kitchen
clock
,
Mrs.
Milvain
had
already
confused
poor
dear
Maggie
with
her
own
incomplete
version
of
the
facts
.
“
The
mischief’s
done
,
and
very
ugly
mischief
too
.
Are
we
to
allow
the
third
child
to
be
born
out
of
wedlock
?
(
I
am
sorry
to
have
to
say
these
things
before
you
,
Katharine
.
)
He
will
bear
your
name
,
Maggie
—
your
father’s
name
,
remember
.
”
“
But
let
us
hope
it
will
be
a
girl
,
”
said
Mrs.
Hilbery
.
Katharine
,
who
had
been
looking
at
her
mother
constantly
,
while
the
chatter
of
tongues
held
sway
,
perceived
that
the
look
of
straightforward
indignation
had
already
vanished
;
her
mother
was
evidently
casting
about
in
her
mind
for
some
method
of
escape
,
or
bright
spot
,
or
sudden
illumination
which
should
show
to
the
satisfaction
of
everybody
that
all
had
happened
,
miraculously
but
incontestably
,
for
the
best
.
“
It’s
detestable
—
quite
detestable
!
”
she
repeated
,
but
in
tones
of
no
great
assurance
;
and
then
her
face
lit
up
with
a
smile
which
,
tentative
at
first
,
soon
became
almost
assured
.
“
Nowadays
,
people
don’t
think
so
badly
of
these
things
as
they
used
to
do
,
”
she
began
.
“
It
will
be
horribly
uncomfortable
for
them
sometimes
,
but
if
they
are
brave
,
clever
children
,
as
they
will
be
,
I
dare
say
it’ll
make
remarkable
people
of
them
in
the
end
.
Robert
Browning
used
to
say
that
every
great
man
has
Jewish
blood
in
him
,
and
we
must
try
to
look
at
it
in
that
light
.
And
,
after
all
,
Cyril
has
acted
on
principle
.
One
may
disagree
with
his
principle
,
but
,
at
least
,
one
can
respect
it
—
like
the
French
Revolution
,
or
Cromwell
cutting
the
King’s
head
off
.
Some
of
the
most
terrible
things
in
history
have
been
done
on
principle
,
”
she
concluded
.
“
I’m
afraid
I
take
a
very
different
view
of
principle
,
”
Cousin
Caroline
remarked
tartly
.
“
Principle
!
”
Aunt
Celia
repeated
,
with
an
air
of
deprecating
such
a
word
in
such
a
connection
.
“
I
will
go
to-morrow
and
see
him
,
”
she
added
.
“
But
why
should
you
take
these
disagreeable
things
upon
yourself
,
Celia
?
”
Mrs.
Hilbery
interposed
,
and
Cousin
Caroline
thereupon
protested
with
some
further
plan
involving
sacrifice
of
herself
.
Growing
weary
of
it
all
,
Katharine
turned
to
the
window
,
and
stood
among
the
folds
of
the
curtain
,
pressing
close
to
the
window-pane
,
and
gazing
disconsolately
at
the
river
much
in
the
attitude
of
a
child
depressed
by
the
meaningless
talk
of
its
elders
.
She
was
much
disappointed
in
her
mother
—
and
in
herself
too
.
The
little
tug
which
she
gave
to
the
blind
,
letting
it
fly
up
to
the
top
with
a
snap
,
signified
her
annoyance
.
She
was
very
angry
,
and
yet
impotent
to
give
expression
to
her
anger
,
or
know
with
whom
she
was
angry
.
How
they
talked
and
moralized
and
made
up
stories
to
suit
their
own
version
of
the
becoming
,
and
secretly
praised
their
own
devotion
and
tact
!
No
;
they
had
their
dwelling
in
a
mist
,
she
decided
;
hundreds
of
miles
away
—
away
from
what
?
“
Perhaps
it
would
be
better
if
I
married
William
,
”
she
thought
suddenly
,
and
the
thought
appeared
to
loom
through
the
mist
like
solid
ground
.
She
stood
there
,
thinking
of
her
own
destiny
,
and
the
elder
ladies
talked
on
,
until
they
had
talked
themselves
into
a
decision
to
ask
the
young
woman
to
luncheon
,
and
tell
her
,
very
friendlily
,
how
such
behavior
appeared
to
women
like
themselves
,
who
knew
the
world
.
And
then
Mrs.
Hilbery
was
struck
by
a
better
idea
.
CHAPTER
X
Messrs.
Grateley
and
Hooper
,
the
solicitors
in
whose
firm
Ralph
Denham
was
clerk
,
had
their
office
in
Lincoln’s
Inn
Fields
,
and
there
Ralph
Denham
appeared
every
morning
very
punctually
at
ten
o’clock
.
His
punctuality
,
together
with
other
qualities
,
marked
him
out
among
the
clerks
for
success
,
and
indeed
it
would
have
been
safe
to
wager
that
in
ten
years’
time
or
so
one
would
find
him
at
the
head
of
his
profession
,
had
it
not
been
for
a
peculiarity
which
sometimes
seemed
to
make
everything
about
him
uncertain
and
perilous
.
His
sister
Joan
had
already
been
disturbed
by
his
love
of
gambling
with
his
savings
.
Scrutinizing
him
constantly
with
the
eye
of
affection
,
she
had
become
aware
of
a
curious
perversity
in
his
temperament
which
caused
her
much
anxiety
,
and
would
have
caused
her
still
more
if
she
had
not
recognized
the
germs
of
it
in
her
own
nature
.
She
could
fancy
Ralph
suddenly
sacrificing
his
entire
career
for
some
fantastic
imagination
;
some
cause
or
idea
or
even
(
so
her
fancy
ran
)
for
some
woman
seen
from
a
railway
train
,
hanging
up
clothes
in
a
back
yard
.
When
he
had
found
this
beauty
or
this
cause
,
no
force
,
she
knew
,
would
avail
to
restrain
him
from
pursuit
of
it
.
She
suspected
the
East
also
,
and
always
fidgeted
herself
when
she
saw
him
with
a
book
of
Indian
travels
in
his
hand
,
as
though
he
were
sucking
contagion
from
the
page
.
On
the
other
hand
,
no
common
love
affair
,
had
there
been
such
a
thing
,
would
have
caused
her
a
moment’s
uneasiness
where
Ralph
was
concerned
.
He
was
destined
in
her
fancy
for
something
splendid
in
the
way
of
success
or
failure
,
she
knew
not
which
.
And
yet
nobody
could
have
worked
harder
or
done
better
in
all
the
recognized
stages
of
a
young
man’s
life
than
Ralph
had
done
,
and
Joan
had
to
gather
materials
for
her
fears
from
trifles
in
her
brother’s
behavior
which
would
have
escaped
any
other
eye
.
It
was
natural
that
she
should
be
anxious
.
Life
had
been
so
arduous
for
all
of
them
from
the
start
that
she
could
not
help
dreading
any
sudden
relaxation
of
his
grasp
upon
what
he
held
,
though
,
as
she
knew
from
inspection
of
her
own
life
,
such
sudden
impulse
to
let
go
and
make
away
from
the
discipline
and
the
drudgery
was
sometimes
almost
irresistible
.
But
with
Ralph
,
if
he
broke
away
,
she
knew
that
it
would
be
only
to
put
himself
under
harsher
constraint
;
she
figured
him
toiling
through
sandy
deserts
under
a
tropical
sun
to
find
the
source
of
some
river
or
the
haunt
of
some
fly
;
she
figured
him
living
by
the
labor
of
his
hands
in
some
city
slum
,
the
victim
of
one
of
those
terrible
theories
of
right
and
wrong
which
were
current
at
the
time
;
she
figured
him
prisoner
for
life
in
the
house
of
a
woman
who
had
seduced
him
by
her
misfortunes
.
Half
proudly
,
and
wholly
anxiously
,
she
framed
such
thoughts
,
as
they
sat
,
late
at
night
,
talking
together
over
the
gas-stove
in
Ralph’s
bedroom
.
It
is
likely
that
Ralph
would
not
have
recognized
his
own
dream
of
a
future
in
the
forecasts
which
disturbed
his
sister’s
peace
of
mind
.
Certainly
,
if
any
one
of
them
had
been
put
before
him
he
would
have
rejected
it
with
a
laugh
,
as
the
sort
of
life
that
held
no
attractions
for
him
.
He
could
not
have
said
how
it
was
that
he
had
put
these
absurd
notions
into
his
sister’s
head
.
Indeed
,
he
prided
himself
upon
being
well
broken
into
a
life
of
hard
work
,
about
which
he
had
no
sort
of
illusions
.
His
vision
of
his
own
future
,
unlike
many
such
forecasts
,
could
have
been
made
public
at
any
moment
without
a
blush
;
he
attributed
to
himself
a
strong
brain
,
and
conferred
on
himself
a
seat
in
the
House
of
Commons
at
the
age
of
fifty
,
a
moderate
fortune
,
and
,
with
luck
,
an
unimportant
office
in
a
Liberal
Government
.
There
was
nothing
extravagant
in
a
forecast
of
that
kind
,
and
certainly
nothing
dishonorable
.
Nevertheless
,
as
his
sister
guessed
,
it
needed
all
Ralph’s
strength
of
will
,
together
with
the
pressure
of
circumstances
,
to
keep
his
feet
moving
in
the
path
which
led
that
way
.
It
needed
,
in
particular
,
a
constant
repetition
of
a
phrase
to
the
effect
that
he
shared
the
common
fate
,
found
it
best
of
all
,
and
wished
for
no
other
;
and
by
repeating
such
phrases
he
acquired
punctuality
and
habits
of
work
,
and
could
very
plausibly
demonstrate
that
to
be
a
clerk
in
a
solicitor’s
office
was
the
best
of
all
possible
lives
,
and
that
other
ambitions
were
vain
.
But
,
like
all
beliefs
not
genuinely
held
,
this
one
depended
very
much
upon
the
amount
of
acceptance
it
received
from
other
people
,
and
in
private
,
when
the
pressure
of
public
opinion
was
removed
,
Ralph
let
himself
swing
very
rapidly
away
from
his
actual
circumstances
upon
strange
voyages
which
,
indeed
,
he
would
have
been
ashamed
to
describe
.
In
these
dreams
,
of
course
,
he
figured
in
noble
and
romantic
parts
,
but
self-glorification
was
not
the
only
motive
of
them
.
They
gave
outlet
to
some
spirit
which
found
no
work
to
do
in
real
life
,
for
,
with
the
pessimism
which
his
lot
forced
upon
him
,
Ralph
had
made
up
his
mind
that
there
was
no
use
for
what
,
contemptuously
enough
,
he
called
dreams
,
in
the
world
which
we
inhabit
.
It
sometimes
seemed
to
him
that
this
spirit
was
the
most
valuable
possession
he
had
;
he
thought
that
by
means
of
it
he
could
set
flowering
waste
tracts
of
the
earth
,
cure
many
ills
,
or
raise
up
beauty
where
none
now
existed
;
it
was
,
too
,
a
fierce
and
potent
spirit
which
would
devour
the
dusty
books
and
parchments
on
the
office
wall
with
one
lick
of
its
tongue
,
and
leave
him
in
a
minute
standing
in
nakedness
,
if
he
gave
way
to
it
.
His
endeavor
,
for
many
years
,
had
been
to
control
the
spirit
,
and
at
the
age
of
twenty-nine
he
thought
he
could
pride
himself
upon
a
life
rigidly
divided
into
the
hours
of
work
and
those
of
dreams
;
the
two
lived
side
by
side
without
harming
each
other
.
As
a
matter
of
fact
,
this
effort
at
discipline
had
been
helped
by
the
interests
of
a
difficult
profession
,
but
the
old
conclusion
to
which
Ralph
had
come
when
he
left
college
still
held
sway
in
his
mind
,
and
tinged
his
views
with
the
melancholy
belief
that
life
for
most
people
compels
the
exercise
of
the
lower
gifts
and
wastes
the
precious
ones
,
until
it
forces
us
to
agree
that
there
is
little
virtue
,
as
well
as
little
profit
,
in
what
once
seemed
to
us
the
noblest
part
of
our
inheritance
.
Denham
was
not
altogether
popular
either
in
his
office
or
among
his
family
.
He
was
too
positive
,
at
this
stage
of
his
career
,
as
to
what
was
right
and
what
wrong
,
too
proud
of
his
self-control
,
and
,
as
is
natural
in
the
case
of
persons
not
altogether
happy
or
well
suited
in
their
conditions
,
too
apt
to
prove
the
folly
of
contentment
,
if
he
found
any
one
who
confessed
to
that
weakness
.
In
the
office
his
rather
ostentatious
efficiency
annoyed
those
who
took
their
own
work
more
lightly
,
and
,
if
they
foretold
his
advancement
,
it
was
not
altogether
sympathetically
.
Indeed
,
he
appeared
to
be
rather
a
hard
and
self-sufficient
young
man
,
with
a
queer
temper
,
and
manners
that
were
uncompromisingly
abrupt
,
who
was
consumed
with
a
desire
to
get
on
in
the
world
,
which
was
natural
,
these
critics
thought
,
in
a
man
of
no
means
,
but
not
engaging
.
The
young
men
in
the
office
had
a
perfect
right
to
these
opinions
,
because
Denham
showed
no
particular
desire
for
their
friendship
.
He
liked
them
well
enough
,
but
shut
them
up
in
that
compartment
of
life
which
was
devoted
to
work
.
Hitherto
,
indeed
,
he
had
found
little
difficulty
in
arranging
his
life
as
methodically
as
he
arranged
his
expenditure
,
but
about
this
time
he
began
to
encounter
experiences
which
were
not
so
easy
to
classify
.
Mary
Datchet
had
begun
this
confusion
two
years
ago
by
bursting
into
laughter
at
some
remark
of
his
,
almost
the
first
time
they
met
.
She
could
not
explain
why
it
was
.
She
thought
him
quite
astonishingly
odd
.
When
he
knew
her
well
enough
to
tell
her
how
he
spent
Monday
and
Wednesday
and
Saturday
,
she
was
still
more
amused
;
she
laughed
till
he
laughed
,
too
,
without
knowing
why
.
It
seemed
to
her
very
odd
that
he
should
know
as
much
about
breeding
bulldogs
as
any
man
in
England
;
that
he
had
a
collection
of
wild
flowers
found
near
London
;
and
his
weekly
visit
to
old
Miss
Trotter
at
Ealing
,
who
was
an
authority
upon
the
science
of
Heraldry
,
never
failed
to
excite
her
laughter
.
She
wanted
to
know
everything
,
even
the
kind
of
cake
which
the
old
lady
supplied
on
these
occasions
;
and
their
summer
excursions
to
churches
in
the
neighborhood
of
London
for
the
purpose
of
taking
rubbings
of
the
brasses
became
most
important
festivals
,
from
the
interest
she
took
in
them
.
In
six
months
she
knew
more
about
his
odd
friends
and
hobbies
than
his
own
brothers
and
sisters
knew
,
after
living
with
him
all
his
life
;
and
Ralph
found
this
very
pleasant
,
though
disordering
,
for
his
own
view
of
himself
had
always
been
profoundly
serious
.
Certainly
it
was
very
pleasant
to
be
with
Mary
Datchet
and
to
become
,
directly
the
door
was
shut
,
quite
a
different
sort
of
person
,
eccentric
and
lovable
,
with
scarcely
any
likeness
to
the
self
most
people
knew
.
He
became
less
serious
,
and
rather
less
dictatorial
at
home
,
for
he
was
apt
to
hear
Mary
laughing
at
him
,
and
telling
him
,
as
she
was
fond
of
doing
,
that
he
knew
nothing
at
all
about
anything
.
She
made
him
,
also
,
take
an
interest
in
public
questions
,
for
which
she
had
a
natural
liking
;
and
was
in
process
of
turning
him
from
Tory
to
Radical
,
after
a
course
of
public
meetings
,
which
began
by
boring
him
acutely
,
and
ended
by
exciting
him
even
more
than
they
excited
her
.
But
he
was
reserved
;
when
ideas
started
up
in
his
mind
,
he
divided
them
automatically
into
those
he
could
discuss
with
Mary
,
and
those
he
must
keep
for
himself
.
She
knew
this
and
it
interested
her
,
for
she
was
accustomed
to
find
young
men
very
ready
to
talk
about
themselves
,
and
had
come
to
listen
to
them
as
one
listens
to
children
,
without
any
thought
of
herself
.
But
with
Ralph
,
she
had
very
little
of
this
maternal
feeling
,
and
,
in
consequence
,
a
much
keener
sense
of
her
own
individuality
.
Late
one
afternoon
Ralph
stepped
along
the
Strand
to
an
interview
with
a
lawyer
upon
business
.
The
afternoon
light
was
almost
over
,
and
already
streams
of
greenish
and
yellowish
artificial
light
were
being
poured
into
an
atmosphere
which
,
in
country
lanes
,
would
now
have
been
soft
with
the
smoke
of
wood
fires
;
and
on
both
sides
of
the
road
the
shop
windows
were
full
of
sparkling
chains
and
highly
polished
leather
cases
,
which
stood
upon
shelves
made
of
thick
plate-glass
.
None
of
these
different
objects
was
seen
separately
by
Denham
,
but
from
all
of
them
he
drew
an
impression
of
stir
and
cheerfulness
.
Thus
it
came
about
that
he
saw
Katharine
Hilbery
coming
towards
him
,
and
looked
straight
at
her
,
as
if
she
were
only
an
illustration
of
the
argument
that
was
going
forward
in
his
mind
.
In
this
spirit
he
noticed
the
rather
set
expression
in
her
eyes
,
and
the
slight
,
half-conscious
movement
of
her
lips
,
which
,
together
with
her
height
and
the
distinction
of
her
dress
,
made
her
look
as
if
the
scurrying
crowd
impeded
her
,
and
her
direction
were
different
from
theirs
.
He
noticed
this
calmly
;
but
suddenly
,
as
he
passed
her
,
his
hands
and
knees
began
to
tremble
,
and
his
heart
beat
painfully
.
She
did
not
see
him
,
and
went
on
repeating
to
herself
some
lines
which
had
stuck
to
her
memory
:
“
It’s
life
that
matters
,
nothing
but
life
—
the
process
of
discovering
—
the
everlasting
and
perpetual
process
,
not
the
discovery
itself
at
all
.
”
Thus
occupied
,
she
did
not
see
Denham
,
and
he
had
not
the
courage
to
stop
her
.
But
immediately
the
whole
scene
in
the
Strand
wore
that
curious
look
of
order
and
purpose
which
is
imparted
to
the
most
heterogeneous
things
when
music
sounds
;
and
so
pleasant
was
this
impression
that
he
was
very
glad
that
he
had
not
stopped
her
,
after
all
.
It
grew
slowly
fainter
,
but
lasted
until
he
stood
outside
the
barrister’s
chambers
.
When
his
interview
with
the
barrister
was
over
,
it
was
too
late
to
go
back
to
the
office
.
His
sight
of
Katharine
had
put
him
queerly
out
of
tune
for
a
domestic
evening
.
Where
should
he
go
?
To
walk
through
the
streets
of
London
until
he
came
to
Katharine’s
house
,
to
look
up
at
the
windows
and
fancy
her
within
,
seemed
to
him
possible
for
a
moment
;
and
then
he
rejected
the
plan
almost
with
a
blush
as
,
with
a
curious
division
of
consciousness
,
one
plucks
a
flower
sentimentally
and
throws
it
away
,
with
a
blush
,
when
it
is
actually
picked
.
No
,
he
would
go
and
see
Mary
Datchet
.
By
this
time
she
would
be
back
from
her
work
.
To
see
Ralph
appear
unexpectedly
in
her
room
threw
Mary
for
a
second
off
her
balance
.
She
had
been
cleaning
knives
in
her
little
scullery
,
and
when
she
had
let
him
in
she
went
back
again
,
and
turned
on
the
cold-water
tap
to
its
fullest
volume
,
and
then
turned
it
off
again
.
“
Now
,
”
she
thought
to
herself
,
as
she
screwed
it
tight
,
“
I’m
not
going
to
let
these
silly
ideas
come
into
my
head
...
.
Don’t
you
think
Mr.
Asquith
deserves
to
be
hanged
?
”
she
called
back
into
the
sitting-room
,
and
when
she
joined
him
,
drying
her
hands
,
she
began
to
tell
him
about
the
latest
evasion
on
the
part
of
the
Government
with
respect
to
the
Women’s
Suffrage
Bill
.
Ralph
did
not
want
to
talk
about
politics
,
but
he
could
not
help
respecting
Mary
for
taking
such
an
interest
in
public
questions
.
He
looked
at
her
as
she
leant
forward
,
poking
the
fire
,
and
expressing
herself
very
clearly
in
phrases
which
bore
distantly
the
taint
of
the
platform
,
and
he
thought
,
“
How
absurd
Mary
would
think
me
if
she
knew
that
I
almost
made
up
my
mind
to
walk
all
the
way
to
Chelsea
in
order
to
look
at
Katharine’s
windows
.
She
wouldn’t
understand
it
,
but
I
like
her
very
much
as
she
is
.
”
For
some
time
they
discussed
what
the
women
had
better
do
;
and
as
Ralph
became
genuinely
interested
in
the
question
,
Mary
unconsciously
let
her
attention
wander
,
and
a
great
desire
came
over
her
to
talk
to
Ralph
about
her
own
feelings
;
or
,
at
any
rate
,
about
something
personal
,
so
that
she
might
see
what
he
felt
for
her
;
but
she
resisted
this
wish
.
But
she
could
not
prevent
him
from
feeling
her
lack
of
interest
in
what
he
was
saying
,
and
gradually
they
both
became
silent
.
One
thought
after
another
came
up
in
Ralph’s
mind
,
but
they
were
all
,
in
some
way
,
connected
with
Katharine
,
or
with
vague
feelings
of
romance
and
adventure
such
as
she
inspired
.
But
he
could
not
talk
to
Mary
about
such
thoughts
;
and
he
pitied
her
for
knowing
nothing
of
what
he
was
feeling
.
“
Here
,
”
he
thought
,
“
is
where
we
differ
from
women
;
they
have
no
sense
of
romance
.
”
“
Well
,
Mary
,
”
he
said
at
length
,
“
why
don’t
you
say
something
amusing
?
”
His
tone
was
certainly
provoking
,
but
,
as
a
general
rule
,
Mary
was
not
easily
provoked
.
This
evening
,
however
,
she
replied
rather
sharply
:
“
Because
I’ve
got
nothing
amusing
to
say
,
I
suppose
.
”
Ralph
thought
for
a
moment
,
and
then
remarked
:
“
You
work
too
hard
.
I
don’t
mean
your
health
,
”
he
added
,
as
she
laughed
scornfully
,
“
I
mean
that
you
seem
to
me
to
be
getting
wrapped
up
in
your
work
.
”
“
And
is
that
a
bad
thing
?
”
she
asked
,
shading
her
eyes
with
her
hand
.
“
I
think
it
is
,
”
he
returned
abruptly
.
“
But
only
a
week
ago
you
were
saying
the
opposite
.
”
Her
tone
was
defiant
,
but
she
became
curiously
depressed
.
Ralph
did
not
perceive
it
,
and
took
this
opportunity
of
lecturing
her
,
and
expressing
his
latest
views
upon
the
proper
conduct
of
life
.
She
listened
,
but
her
main
impression
was
that
he
had
been
meeting
some
one
who
had
influenced
him
.
He
was
telling
her
that
she
ought
to
read
more
,
and
to
see
that
there
were
other
points
of
view
as
deserving
of
attention
as
her
own
.
Naturally
,
having
last
seen
him
as
he
left
the
office
in
company
with
Katharine
,
she
attributed
the
change
to
her
;
it
was
likely
that
Katharine
,
on
leaving
the
scene
which
she
had
so
clearly
despised
,
had
pronounced
some
such
criticism
,
or
suggested
it
by
her
own
attitude
.
But
she
knew
that
Ralph
would
never
admit
that
he
had
been
influenced
by
anybody
.
“
You
don’t
read
enough
,
Mary
,
”
he
was
saying
.
“
You
ought
to
read
more
poetry
.
”
It
was
true
that
Mary’s
reading
had
been
rather
limited
to
such
works
as
she
needed
to
know
for
the
sake
of
examinations
;
and
her
time
for
reading
in
London
was
very
little
.
For
some
reason
,
no
one
likes
to
be
told
that
they
do
not
read
enough
poetry
,
but
her
resentment
was
only
visible
in
the
way
she
changed
the
position
of
her
hands
,
and
in
the
fixed
look
in
her
eyes
.
And
then
she
thought
to
herself
,
“
I’m
behaving
exactly
as
I
said
I
wouldn’t
behave
,
”
whereupon
she
relaxed
all
her
muscles
and
said
,
in
her
reasonable
way
:
“
Tell
me
what
I
ought
to
read
,
then
.
”
Ralph
had
unconsciously
been
irritated
by
Mary
,
and
he
now
delivered
himself
of
a
few
names
of
great
poets
which
were
the
text
for
a
discourse
upon
the
imperfection
of
Mary’s
character
and
way
of
life
.
“
You
live
with
your
inferiors
,
”
he
said
,
warming
unreasonably
,
as
he
knew
,
to
his
text
.
“
And
you
get
into
a
groove
because
,
on
the
whole
,
it’s
rather
a
pleasant
groove
.
And
you
tend
to
forget
what
you’re
there
for
.
You’ve
the
feminine
habit
of
making
much
of
details
.
You
don’t
see
when
things
matter
and
when
they
don’t
.
And
that’s
what’s
the
ruin
of
all
these
organizations
.
That’s
why
the
Suffragists
have
never
done
anything
all
these
years
.
What’s
the
point
of
drawing-room
meetings
and
bazaars
?
You
want
to
have
ideas
,
Mary
;
get
hold
of
something
big
;
never
mind
making
mistakes
,
but
don’t
niggle
.
Why
don’t
you
throw
it
all
up
for
a
year
,
and
travel
?
—
see
something
of
the
world
.
Don’t
be
content
to
live
with
half
a
dozen
people
in
a
backwater
all
your
life
.
But
you
won’t
,
”
he
concluded
.
“
I’ve
rather
come
to
that
way
of
thinking
myself
—
about
myself
,
I
mean
,
”
said
Mary
,
surprising
him
by
her
acquiescence
.
“
I
should
like
to
go
somewhere
far
away
.
”
For
a
moment
they
were
both
silent
.
Ralph
then
said
:
“
But
look
here
,
Mary
,
you
haven’t
been
taking
this
seriously
,
have
you
?
”
His
irritation
was
spent
,
and
the
depression
,
which
she
could
not
keep
out
of
her
voice
,
made
him
feel
suddenly
with
remorse
that
he
had
been
hurting
her
.
“
You
won’t
go
away
,
will
you
?
”
he
asked
.
And
as
she
said
nothing
,
he
added
,
“
Oh
no
,
don’t
go
away
.
”
“
I
don’t
know
exactly
what
I
mean
to
do
,
”
she
replied
.
She
hovered
on
the
verge
of
some
discussion
of
her
plans
,
but
she
received
no
encouragement
.
He
fell
into
one
of
his
queer
silences
,
which
seemed
to
Mary
,
in
spite
of
all
her
precautions
,
to
have
reference
to
what
she
also
could
not
prevent
herself
from
thinking
about
—
their
feeling
for
each
other
and
their
relationship
.
She
felt
that
the
two
lines
of
thought
bored
their
way
in
long
,
parallel
tunnels
which
came
very
close
indeed
,
but
never
ran
into
each
other
.
When
he
had
gone
,
and
he
left
her
without
breaking
his
silence
more
than
was
needed
to
wish
her
good
night
,
she
sat
on
for
a
time
,
reviewing
what
he
had
said
.
If
love
is
a
devastating
fire
which
melts
the
whole
being
into
one
mountain
torrent
,
Mary
was
no
more
in
love
with
Denham
than
she
was
in
love
with
her
poker
or
her
tongs
.
But
probably
these
extreme
passions
are
very
rare
,
and
the
state
of
mind
thus
depicted
belongs
to
the
very
last
stages
of
love
,
when
the
power
to
resist
has
been
eaten
away
,
week
by
week
or
day
by
day
.
Like
most
intelligent
people
,
Mary
was
something
of
an
egoist
,
to
the
extent
,
that
is
,
of
attaching
great
importance
to
what
she
felt
,
and
she
was
by
nature
enough
of
a
moralist
to
like
to
make
certain
,
from
time
to
time
,
that
her
feelings
were
creditable
to
her
.
When
Ralph
left
her
she
thought
over
her
state
of
mind
,
and
came
to
the
conclusion
that
it
would
be
a
good
thing
to
learn
a
language
—
say
Italian
or
German
.
She
then
went
to
a
drawer
,
which
she
had
to
unlock
,
and
took
from
it
certain
deeply
scored
manuscript
pages
.
She
read
them
through
,
looking
up
from
her
reading
every
now
and
then
and
thinking
very
intently
for
a
few
seconds
about
Ralph
.
She
did
her
best
to
verify
all
the
qualities
in
him
which
gave
rise
to
emotions
in
her
;
and
persuaded
herself
that
she
accounted
reasonably
for
them
all
.
Then
she
looked
back
again
at
her
manuscript
,
and
decided
that
to
write
grammatical
English
prose
is
the
hardest
thing
in
the
world
.
But
she
thought
about
herself
a
great
deal
more
than
she
thought
about
grammatical
English
prose
or
about
Ralph
Denham
,
and
it
may
therefore
be
disputed
whether
she
was
in
love
,
or
,
if
so
,
to
which
branch
of
the
family
her
passion
belonged
.
CHAPTER
XI
“
It’s
life
that
matters
,
nothing
but
life
—
the
process
of
discovering
,
the
everlasting
and
perpetual
process
,
”
said
Katharine
,
as
she
passed
under
the
archway
,
and
so
into
the
wide
space
of
King’s
Bench
Walk
,
“
not
the
discovery
itself
at
all
.
”
She
spoke
the
last
words
looking
up
at
Rodney’s
windows
,
which
were
a
semilucent
red
color
,
in
her
honor
,
as
she
knew
.
He
had
asked
her
to
tea
with
him
.
But
she
was
in
a
mood
when
it
is
almost
physically
disagreeable
to
interrupt
the
stride
of
one’s
thought
,
and
she
walked
up
and
down
two
or
three
times
under
the
trees
before
approaching
his
staircase
.
She
liked
getting
hold
of
some
book
which
neither
her
father
or
mother
had
read
,
and
keeping
it
to
herself
,
and
gnawing
its
contents
in
privacy
,
and
pondering
the
meaning
without
sharing
her
thoughts
with
any
one
,
or
having
to
decide
whether
the
book
was
a
good
one
or
a
bad
one
.
This
evening
she
had
twisted
the
words
of
Dostoevsky
to
suit
her
mood
—
a
fatalistic
mood
—
to
proclaim
that
the
process
of
discovery
was
life
,
and
that
,
presumably
,
the
nature
of
one’s
goal
mattered
not
at
all
.
She
sat
down
for
a
moment
upon
one
of
the
seats
;
felt
herself
carried
along
in
the
swirl
of
many
things
;
decided
,
in
her
sudden
way
,
that
it
was
time
to
heave
all
this
thinking
overboard
,
and
rose
,
leaving
a
fishmonger’s
basket
on
the
seat
behind
her
.
Two
minutes
later
her
rap
sounded
with
authority
upon
Rodney’s
door
.
“
Well
,
William
,
”
she
said
,
“
I’m
afraid
I’m
late
.
”
It
was
true
,
but
he
was
so
glad
to
see
her
that
he
forgot
his
annoyance
.
He
had
been
occupied
for
over
an
hour
in
making
things
ready
for
her
,
and
he
now
had
his
reward
in
seeing
her
look
right
and
left
,
as
she
slipped
her
cloak
from
