,that
in
time
Elsmere
would
find
his
way
back
into
the
fold
.
In
Mrs.
Thornburgh
's
dismay
there
was
a
secret
superstitious
pang
.
Perhaps
she
had
better
not
have
meddled
.
Perhaps
it
was
never
well
to
meddle
.
One
event
bears
many
readings
,
and
the
tragedy
of
Catherine
Elsmere
's
life
took
shape
in
the
uneasy
consciousness
of
the
vicar
's
spouse
as
a
more
or
less
sharp
admonition
against
wilfulness
in
match-making
.
Of
course
Rose
had
her
way
as
to
wintering
in
London
.
They
came
up
in
the
middle
of
October
while
the
Elsmeres
were
still
abroad
,
and
settled
into
a
small
house
in
Lerwick
Gardens
,
Campden
Hill
,
which
Catherine
had
secured
for
them
on
her
way
through
town
to
the
Continent
.
As
soon
as
Mrs.
Leyburn
had
been
made
comfortable
,
Rose
set
to
work
to
look
up
her
friends
.
She
owed
her
acquaintance
in
London
hitherto
mainly
to
Mr.
and
Mrs.
Pierson
,
the
young
barrister
and
his
æsthetic
wife
whom
she
had
originally
met
and
made
friends
with
in
a
railway-carriage
.
Mr.
Pierson
was
bustling
and
shrewd
;
not
made
of
the
finest
clay
,
yet
not
at
all
a
bad
fellow
.
His
wife
,
the
daughter
of
a
famous
Mrs.
Leo
Hunter
of
a
bygone
generation
,
was
small
,
untidy
,
and
in
all
matters
of
religious
or
political
opinion
'
emancipated
'
to
an
extreme
.
She
had
also
a
strong
vein
of
inherited
social
ambition
,
and
she
and
her
husband
welcomed
Rose
with
greater
effusion
than
ever
,
in
proportion
as
she
was
more
beautiful
and
more
indisputably
gifted
than
ever
.
They
placed
themselves
and
their
house
at
the
girl
's
service
,
partly
out
of
genuine
admiration
and
good-nature
,
partly
also
because
they
divined
in
her
a
profitable
social
appendage
.
For
the
Piersons
,
socially
,
were
still
climbing
,
and
had
by
no
means
attained
.
Their
world
,
so
far
,
consisted
too
much
of
the
odds
and
ends
of
most
other
worlds
.
They
were
not
satisfied
with
it
,
and
the
friendship
of
the
girl-violinist
,
whose
vivacious
beauty
and
artistic
gift
made
a
stir
wherever
she
went
,
was
a
very
welcome
addition
to
their
resources
.
They
fêted
her
in
their
own
house
;
they
took
her
to
the
houses
of
other
people
;
society
smiled
on
Miss
Leyburn
's
protectors
more
than
it
had
ever
smiled
on
Mr.
and
Mrs.
Pierson
taken
alone
;
and
meanwhile
Rose
,
flushed
,
excited
,
and
totally
unsuspicious
,
thought
the
world
a
fairy
tale
,
and
lived
from
morning
till
night
in
a
perpetual
din
of
music
,
compliments
,
and
bravos
,
which
seemed
to
her
life
indeed
—
life
at
last
!
With
the
beginning
of
November
the
Elsmeres
returned
,
and
about
the
same
time
Rose
began
to
project
tea-parties
of
her
own
,
to
which
Mrs.
Leyburn
gave
a
flurried
assent
.
When
the
invitations
were
written
,
Rose
sat
staring
at
them
a
little
,
pen
in
hand
.
'
I
wonder
what
Catherine
will
say
to
some
of
these
people
!
'
she
remarked
in
a
dubious
voice
to
Agnes
.
'
Some
of
them
are
queer
,
I
admit
;
but
,
after
all
,
those
two
superior
persons
will
have
to
get
used
to
my
friends
some
time
,
and
they
may
as
well
begin
.
'
'
You
cannot
expect
poor
Cathie
to
come
,
'
said
Agnes
with
sudden
energy
.
Rose
's
eyebrows
went
up
.
Agnes
resented
her
ironical
expression
,
and
with
a
word
or
two
of
quite
unusual
sharpness
got
up
and
went
.
Rose
,
left
alone
,
sprang
up
suddenly
,
and
clasped
her
white
fingers
above
her
head
,
with
a
long
breath
.
'
Where
my
heart
used
to
be
there
is
now
just
—
a
black
—
cold
—
cinder
,
'
she
remarked
with
sarcastic
emphasis
.
'
I
am
sure
I
used
to
be
a
nice
girl
once
,
but
it
is
so
long
ago
I
ca
n't
remember
it
!
'
She
stayed
so
a
minute
or
more
;
then
two
tears
suddenly
broke
and
fell
.
She
dashed
them
angrily
away
,
and
sat
down
again
to
her
note-writing
.
Amongst
the
cards
she
had
still
to
fill
up
was
one
of
which
the
envelope
was
addressed
to
the
Hon.
Hugh
Flaxman
,
90
St.
James
's
Place
.
Lady
Charlotte
,
though
she
had
afterwards
again
left
town
,
had
been
in
Martin
Street
at
the
end
of
October
.
The
Leyburns
had
lunched
there
,
and
had
been
introduced
by
her
to
her
nephew
,
and
Lady
Helen
's
brother
,
Mr.
Flaxman
.
The
girls
had
found
him
agreeable
;
he
had
called
the
week
afterwards
when
they
were
not
at
home
;
and
Rose
now
carelessly
sent
him
a
card
,
with
the
inward
reflection
that
he
was
much
too
great
a
man
to
come
,
and
was
probably
enjoying
himself
at
country
houses
,
as
every
aristocrat
should
,
in
November
.
The
following
day
the
two
girls
made
their
way
over
to
Bedford
Square
,
where
the
Elsmeres
had
taken
a
house
in
order
to
be
near
the
British
Museum
.
They
pushed
their
way
upstairs
through
a
medley
of
packing-cases
,
and
a
sickening
smell
of
paint
.
There
was
a
sound
of
an
opening
door
,
and
a
gentleman
stepped
out
of
the
back
room
,
which
was
to
be
Elsmere
's
study
,
on
to
the
landing
.
It
was
Edward
Langham
.
He
and
Rose
stood
and
stared
at
each
other
a
moment
.
Then
Rose
in
the
coolest
,
lightest
voice
introduced
him
to
Agnes
.
Agnes
,
with
one
curious
glance
,
took
in
her
sister
's
defiant
smiling
ease
and
the
stranger
's
embarrassment
;
then
she
went
on
to
find
Catherine
.
The
two
left
behind
exchanged
a
few
banal
questions
and
answers
.
Langham
had
only
allowed
himself
one
look
at
the
dazzling
face
and
eyes
framed
in
fur
cap
and
boa
.
Afterwards
he
stood
making
a
study
of
the
ground
,
and
answering
her
remarks
in
his
usual
stumbling
fashion
.
What
was
it
had
gone
out
of
her
voice
—
simply
the
soft
callow
sounds
of
first
youth
?
And
what
a
personage
she
had
grown
in
these
twelve
months
—
how
formidably
,
consciously
brilliant
in
look
and
dress
and
manner
!
Yes
,
he
was
still
in
town
—
settled
there
,
indeed
,
for
some
time
.
And
she
—
was
there
any
special
day
on
which
Mrs.
Leyburn
received
visitors
?
He
asked
the
question
,
of
course
,
with
various
hesitations
and
circumlocutions
.
'
Oh
dear
,
yes
!
Will
you
come
next
Wednesday
,
for
instance
,
and
inspect
a
musical
menagerie
?
The
animals
will
go
through
their
performances
from
four
till
seven
.
And
I
can
answer
for
it
that
some
of
the
specimens
will
be
entirely
new
to
you
.
'
The
prospect
offered
could
hardly
have
been
more
repellent
to
him
,
but
he
got
out
an
acceptance
somehow
.
She
nodded
lightly
to
him
and
passed
on
,
and
he
went
downstairs
,
his
head
in
a
whirl
.
Where
had
the
crude
pretty
child
of
yester-year
departed
to
—
impulsive
,
conceited
,
readily
offended
,
easily
touched
,
sensitive
as
to
what
all
the
world
might
think
of
her
and
her
performances
?
The
girl
he
had
just
left
had
counted
all
her
resources
,
tried
the
edge
of
all
her
weapons
,
and
knew
her
own
place
too
well
to
ask
for
anybody
else
's
appraisement
.
What
beauty
—
good
heavens
!
—
what
aplomb
!
The
rich
husband
Elsmere
talked
of
would
hardly
take
much
waiting
for
.
So
cogitating
,
Langham
took
his
way
westward
to
his
Beaumont
Street
rooms
.
They
were
on
the
second
floor
,
small
,
dingy
,
choked
with
books
.
Ordinarily
he
shut
the
door
behind
him
with
a
sigh
of
content
.
This
evening
they
seemed
to
him
intolerably
confined
and
stuffy
.
He
thought
of
going
out
to
his
club
and
a
concert
,
but
did
nothing
,
after
all
,
but
sit
brooding
over
the
fire
till
midnight
,
alternately
hugging
and
hating
his
solitude
.
And
so
we
return
to
the
Wednesday
following
this
unexpected
meeting
.
The
drawing-room
at
No.
27
was
beginning
to
fill
.
Rose
stood
at
the
door
receiving
the
guests
as
they
flowed
in
,
while
Agnes
in
the
background
dispensed
tea
.
She
was
discussing
with
herself
the
probability
of
Langham
's
appearance
.
'
Whom
shall
I
introduce
him
to
first
?
'
she
pondered
,
while
she
shook
hands
.
'
The
poet
?
I
see
mamma
is
now
struggling
with
him
.
The
'
cellist
with
the
hair
—
or
the
lady
in
Greek
dress
—
or
the
esoteric
Buddhist
?
What
a
fascinating
selection
!
I
had
really
no
notion
we
should
be
quite
so
curious
!
'
'
Mees
Rose
,
they
vait
for
you
,
'
said
a
charming
golden-bearded
young
German
,
viola
in
hand
,
bowing
before
her
.
He
and
his
kind
were
most
of
them
in
love
with
her
already
,
and
all
the
more
so
because
she
knew
so
well
how
to
keep
them
at
a
distance
.
She
went
off
,
beckoning
to
Agnes
to
take
her
place
,
and
the
quartette
began
.
The
young
German
aforesaid
played
the
viola
,
while
the
'
cello
was
divinely
played
by
a
Hungarian
,
of
whose
outer
man
it
need
only
be
said
that
in
wild
profusion
of
much-tortured
hair
,
in
Hebraism
of
feature
,
and
swarthy
smoothness
of
cheek
,
he
belonged
to
that
type
which
Nature
would
seem
to
have
already
used
to
excess
in
the
production
of
the
continental
musician
.
Rose
herself
was
violinist
,
and
the
instruments
dashed
into
the
opening
allegro
with
a
precision
and
an
entrain
that
took
the
room
by
storm
.
In
the
middle
of
it
,
Langham
pushed
his
way
into
the
crowd
round
the
drawing-room
door
.
Through
the
heads
about
him
,
he
could
see
her
standing
a
little
in
advance
of
the
others
,
her
head
turned
to
one
side
,
really
in
the
natural
attitude
of
violin-playing
,
but
,
as
it
seemed
to
him
,
in
a
kind
of
ravishment
of
listening
—
cheeks
flushed
,
eyes
shining
,
and
the
right
arm
and
high-curved
wrist
managing
the
bow
with
a
grace
born
of
knowledge
and
fine
training
.
'
Very
much
improved
,
eh
?
'
said
an
English
professional
to
a
German
neighbour
,
lifting
his
eyebrows
interrogatively
.
The
other
nodded
with
the
business-like
air
of
one
who
knows
.
'
Joachim
,
they
say
,
war
darüber
entzückt
,
and
did
his
best
vid
her
,
and
now
D
—
—
has
got
her
'
—
naming
a
famous
violinist
—
'
she
vill
make
fast
brogress
.
He
vill
schtamp
upon
her
treecks
!
'
'
But
will
she
ever
be
more
than
a
very
clever
amateur
?
Too
pretty
,
eh
?
'
And
the
questioner
nudged
his
companion
,
dropping
his
voice
.
Langham
would
have
given
worlds
to
get
on
into
the
room
,
over
the
prostrate
body
of
the
speaker
by
preference
,
but
the
laws
of
mass
and
weight
had
him
at
their
mercy
,
and
he
was
rooted
to
the
spot
.
The
other
shrugged
his
shoulders
.
'
Vell
,
vid
a
bretty
woman
—
überhaupt
—
it
dos
n't
mean
business
!
It
's
zoziety
—
the
dukes
and
the
duchesses
—
that
ruins
all
the
yong
talents
.
'
This
whispered
conversation
went
on
during
the
andante
.
With
the
scherzo
the
two
hirsute
faces
broke
into
broad
smiles
.
The
artist
behind
each
woke
up
,
and
Langham
heard
no
more
,
except
guttural
sounds
of
delight
and
quick
notes
of
technical
criticism
.
How
that
Scherzo
danced
and
coquetted
,
and
how
the
Presto
flew
as
though
all
the
winds
were
behind
it
,
chasing
its
mad
eddies
of
notes
through
listening
space
!
At
the
end
,
amid
a
wild
storm
of
applause
,
she
laid
down
her
violin
,
and
,
proudly
smiling
,
her
breast
still
heaving
with
excitement
and
exertion
,
received
the
praises
of
those
crowding
round
her
.
The
group
round
the
door
was
precipitated
forward
,
and
Langham
with
it
.
She
saw
him
in
a
moment
.
Her
white
brow
contracted
,
and
she
gave
him
a
quick
but
hardly
smiling
glance
of
recognition
through
the
crowd
.
He
thought
there
was
no
chance
of
getting
at
her
,
and
moved
aside
amid
the
general
hubbub
to
look
at
a
picture
.
'
Mr
.
Langham
,
how
do
you
do
?
'
He
turned
sharply
and
found
her
beside
him
.
She
had
come
to
him
with
malice
in
her
heart
—
malice
born
of
smart
and
long
smouldering
pain
;
but
as
she
caught
his
look
,
the
look
of
the
nervous
short-sighted
scholar
and
recluse
,
as
her
glance
swept
over
the
delicate
refinement
of
the
face
,
a
sudden
softness
quivered
in
her
own
.
The
game
was
so
defenceless
!
'
You
will
find
nobody
here
you
know
,
'
she
said
abruptly
,
a
little
under
her
breath
.
'
I
am
morally
certain
you
never
saw
a
single
person
in
the
room
before
!
Shall
I
introduce
you
?
'
'
Delighted
,
of
course
.
But
do
n't
disturb
yourself
about
me
,
Miss
Leyburn
.
I
come
out
of
my
hole
so
seldom
,
everything
amuses
me
—
but
especially
looking
and
listening
.
'
'
Which
means
,
'
she
said
,
with
frank
audacity
,
'
that
you
dislike
new
people
!
'
His
eye
kindled
at
once
.
'
Say
rather
that
it
means
a
preference
for
the
people
that
are
not
new
!
There
is
such
a
thing
as
concentrating
one
's
attention
.
I
came
to
hear
you
play
,
Miss
Leyburn
!
'
'
Well
?
'
She
glanced
at
him
from
under
her
long
lashes
,
one
hand
playing
with
the
rings
on
the
other
.
He
thought
,
suddenly
,
with
a
sting
of
regret
,
of
the
confiding
child
who
had
flushed
under
his
praise
that
Sunday
evening
at
Murewell
.
'
Superb
!
'
he
said
,
but
half-mechanically
.
'
I
had
no
notion
a
winter
's
work
would
have
done
so
much
for
you
.
Was
Berlin
as
stimulating
as
you
expected
?
When
I
heard
you
had
gone
,
I
said
to
myself
—
"
Well
,
at
least
,
now
,
there
is
one
completely
happy
person
in
Europe
!
"
'
'
Did
you
?
How
easily
we
all
dogmatise
about
each
other
?
'
she
said
scornfully
.
Her
manner
was
by
no
means
simple
.
He
did
not
feel
himself
at
all
at
ease
with
her
.
His
very
embarrassment
,
however
,
drove
him
into
rashness
,
as
often
happens
.
'
I
thought
I
had
enough
to
go
upon
!
'
he
said
in
another
tone
;
and
his
black
eyes
,
sparkling
as
though
a
film
had
dropped
from
them
,
supplied
the
reference
his
words
forbore
.
She
turned
away
from
him
with
a
perceptible
drawing
up
of
the
whole
figure
.
'
Will
you
come
and
be
introduced
?
'
she
asked
him
coldly
.
He
bowed
as
coldly
and
followed
her
.
Wholesome
resentment
of
her
manner
was
denied
him
.
He
had
asked
for
her
friendship
,
and
had
then
gone
away
and
forgotten
her
.
Clearly
what
she
meant
him
to
see
now
was
that
they
were
strangers
again
.
Well
,
she
was
amply
in
her
right
.
He
suspected
that
his
allusion
to
their
first
talk
over
the
fire
had
not
been
unwelcome
to
her
,
as
an
opportunity
.
And
he
had
actually
debated
whether
he
should
come
,
lest
in
spite
of
himself
she
might
beguile
him
once
more
into
those
old
lapses
of
will
and
common
sense
!
Coxcomb
!
He
made
a
few
spasmodic
efforts
at
conversation
with
the
lady
to
whom
she
had
introduced
him
,
then
awkwardly
disengaged
himself
and
went
to
stand
in
a
corner
and
study
his
neighbours
.
Close
to
him
,
he
found
,
was
the
poet
of
the
party
,
got
up
in
the
most
correct
professional
costume
—
long
hair
,
velvet
coat
,
eyeglass
and
all
.
His
extravagance
,
however
,
was
of
the
most
conventional
type
.
Only
his
vanity
had
a
touch
of
the
sublime
.
Langham
,
who
possessed
a
sort
of
fine-ear
gift
for
catching
conversation
,
heard
him
saying
to
an
open-eyed
ingénue
beside
him
,
—
'
Oh
,
my
literary
baggage
is
small
as
yet
.
I
have
only
done
,
perhaps
,
three
things
that
will
live
.
'
'
Oh
,
Mr.
Wood
!
'
said
the
maiden
,
mildly
protesting
against
so
much
modesty
.
He
smiled
,
thrusting
his
hand
into
the
breast
of
the
velvet
coat
.
'
But
then
,
'
he
said
,
in
a
tone
of
the
purest
candour
,
'
at
my
age
I
do
n't
think
Shelley
had
done
more
!
'
Langham
,
who
,
like
all
shy
men
,
was
liable
to
occasional
explosions
,
was
seized
with
a
convulsive
fit
of
coughing
,
and
had
to
retire
from
the
neighbourhood
of
the
bard
,
who
looked
round
him
,
disturbed
and
slightly
frowning
.
At
last
he
discovered
a
point
of
view
in
the
back
room
whence
he
could
watch
the
humours
of
the
crowd
without
coming
too
closely
in
contact
with
them
.
What
a
miscellaneous
collection
it
was
!
He
began
to
be
irritably
jealous
for
Rose
's
place
in
the
world
.
She
ought
to
be
more
adequately
surrounded
than
this
.
What
was
Mrs.
Leyburn
—
what
were
the
Elsmeres
about
?
He
rebelled
against
the
thought
of
her
living
perpetually
among
her
inferiors
,
the
centre
of
a
vulgar
publicity
,
queen
of
the
second-rate
.
It
provoked
him
that
she
should
be
amusing
herself
so
well
.
Her
laughter
,
every
now
and
then
,
came
ringing
into
the
back
room
.
And
presently
there
was
a
general
hubbub
.
Langham
craned
his
neck
forward
,
and
saw
a
struggle
going
on
over
a
roll
of
music
,
between
Rose
and
the
long-haired
,
long-nosed
violoncellist
.
Evidently
she
did
not
want
to
play
some
particular
piece
,
and
wished
to
put
it
out
of
sight
.
Whereupon
the
Hungarian
,
who
had
been
clamouring
for
it
,
rushed
to
its
rescue
,
and
there
was
a
mock
fight
over
it
.
At
last
,
amid
the
applause
of
the
room
,
Rose
was
beaten
,
and
her
conqueror
,
flourishing
the
music
on
high
,
executed
a
kind
of
pas
seul
of
triumph
.
'
Victoria
!
'
he
cried
.
'
Now
denn
for
de
conditions
of
peace
.
Mees
Rose
,
vill
you
kindly
tune
up
?
You
are
as
moch
beaten
as
the
French
at
Sedan
.
'
'
Not
a
stone
of
my
fortresses
,
not
an
inch
of
my
territory
!
'
said
Rose
,
with
fine
emphasis
,
crossing
her
white
wrists
before
her
.
The
Hungarian
looked
at
her
,
the
wild
poetic
strain
in
him
which
was
the
strain
of
race
asserting
itself
.
'
But
if
de
victor
bows
,
'
he
said
,
dropping
on
one
knee
before
her
.
'
If
force
lay
down
his
spoils
at
de
feet
of
beauty
?
'
The
circle
round
them
applauded
hotly
,
the
touch
of
theatricality
finding
immediate
response
.
Langham
was
remorselessly
conscious
of
the
man
's
absurd
chevelure
and
ill-
fitting
clothes
.
But
Rose
herself
had
evidently
nothing
but
relish
for
the
scene
.
Proudly
smiling
,
she
held
out
her
hand
for
her
property
,
and
as
soon
as
she
had
it
safe
,
she
whisked
it
into
the
open
drawer
of
a
cabinet
standing
near
,
and
drawing
out
the
key
,
held
it
up
a
moment
in
her
taper
fingers
,
and
then
,
depositing
it
in
a
little
velvet
bag
hanging
at
her
girdle
,
she
closed
the
snap
upon
it
with
a
little
vindictive
wave
of
triumph
.
Every
movement
was
graceful
,
rapid
,
effective
.
Half
a
dozen
German
throats
broke
into
guttural
protest
.
Amid
the
storm
of
laughter
and
remonstrance
,
the
door
suddenly
opened
.
The
fluttered
parlour-maid
mumbled
a
long
name
,
and
,
with
a
port
of
soldierly
uprightness
,
there
advanced
behind
her
a
large
fair-haired
woman
,
followed
by
a
gentleman
,
and
in
the
distance
by
another
figure
.
Rose
drew
back
a
moment
astounded
,
one
hand
on
the
piano
,
her
dress
sweeping
round
her
.
An
awkward
silence
fell
on
the
chattering
circle
of
musicians
.
'
Good
heavens
!
'
said
Langham
to
himself
,
'
Lady
Charlotte
Wynnstay
!
'
'
How
do
you
do
,
Miss
Leyburn
?
'
said
one
of
the
most
piercing
of
voices
.
'
Are
you
surprised
to
see
me
?
You
did
n't
ask
me
—
perhaps
you
do
n't
want
me
.
But
I
have
come
,
you
see
,
partly
because
my
nephew
was
coming
,
'
and
she
pointed
to
the
gentleman
behind
her
,
'
partly
because
I
meant
to
punish
you
for
not
having
come
to
see
me
last
Thursday
.
Why
did
n't
you
?
'
'
Because
we
thought
you
were
still
away
,
'
said
Rose
,
who
had
by
this
time
recovered
her
self-possession
.
'
But
if
you
meant
to
punish
me
,
Lady
Charlotte
,
you
have
done
it
badly
.
I
am
delighted
to
see
you
.
May
I
introduce
my
sister
?
Agnes
,
will
you
find
Lady
Charlotte
Wynnstay
a
chair
by
mamma
?
'
'
Oh
,
you
wish
,
I
see
,
to
dispose
of
me
at
once
,
'
said
the
other
imperturbably
.
'
What
is
happening
?
Is
it
music
?
'
'
Aunt
Charlotte
,
that
is
most
disingenuous
on
your
part
.
I
gave
you
ample
warning
.
'
Rose
turned
a
smiling
face
towards
the
speaker
.
It
was
Mr.
Flaxman
,
Lady
Charlotte
's
companion
.
'
You
need
not
have
drawn
the
picture
too
black
,
Mr.
Flaxman
.
There
is
an
escape
.
If
Lady
Charlotte
will
only
let
my
sister
take
her
into
the
next
room
,
she
will
find
herself
well
out
of
the
clutches
of
the
music
.
Oh
,
Robert
!
Here
you
are
at
last
!
Lady
Charlotte
,
you
remember
my
brother-in-law
?
Robert
,
will
you
get
Lady
Charlotte
some
tea
?
'
'
I
am
not
going
to
be
banished
,
'
said
Mr.
Flaxman
,
looking
down
upon
her
,
his
well-bred
,
slightly
worn
face
aglow
with
animation
and
pleasure
.
'
Then
you
will
be
deafened
,
'
said
Rose
,
laughing
,
as
she
escaped
from
him
a
moment
,
to
arrange
for
a
song
from
a
tall
formidable
maiden
,
built
after
the
fashion
of
Mr.
Gilbert
's
contralto
heroines
,
with
a
voice
which
bore
out
the
ample
promise
of
her
frame
.
'
Your
sister
is
a
terribly
self-possessed
young
person
,
Mr.
Elsmere
,
'
said
Lady
Charlotte
,
as
Robert
piloted
her
across
the
room
.
'
Does
that
imply
praise
or
blame
on
your
part
,
Lady
Charlotte
?
'
asked
Robert
,
smiling
.
'
Neither
at
present
.
I
do
n't
know
Miss
Leyburn
well
enough
.
I
merely
state
a
fact
.
No
tea
,
Mr.
Elsmere
.
I
have
had
three
teas
already
,
and
I
am
not
like
the
American
woman
who
could
always
worry
down
another
cup
.
'
She
was
introduced
to
Mrs.
Leyburn
;
but
the
plaintive
invalid
was
immediately
seized
with
terror
of
her
voice
and
appearance
,
and
was
infinitely
grateful
to
Robert
for
removing
her
as
promptly
as
possible
to
a
chair
on
the
border
of
the
two
rooms
where
she
could
talk
or
listen
as
she
pleased
.
For
a
few
moments
she
listened
to
Fraülein
Adelmann
's
veiled
unmanageable
contralto
;
then
she
turned
magisterially
to
Robert
standing
behind
her
.
'
The
art
of
singing
has
gone
out
.
'
she
declared
,
'
since
the
Germans
have
been
allowed
to
meddle
in
it
.
By
the
way
,
Mr.
Elsmere
,
how
do
you
manage
to
be
here
?
Are
you
taking
a
holiday
?
'
Robert
looked
at
her
with
a
start
.
'
I
have
left
Murewell
,
Lady
Charlotte
.
'
'
Left
Murewell
!
'
she
said
in
astonishment
,
turning
round
to
look
at
him
,
her
eyeglass
in
her
eye
.
'
Why
has
Helen
told
me
nothing
about
it
?
Have
you
got
another
living
?
'
'
No
.
My
wife
and
I
are
settling
in
London
.
We
only
told
Lady
Helen
of
our
intentions
a
few
weeks
ago
.
'
To
which
it
may
be
added
that
Lady
Helen
,
touched
and
dismayed
by
Elsmere
's
letter
to
her
,
had
not
been
very
eager
to
hand
over
the
woes
of
her
friends
to
her
aunt
's
cool
and
irresponsible
comments
.
Lady
Charlotte
deliberately
looked
at
him
a
minute
longer
through
her
glass
.
Then
she
let
it
fall
.
'
You
do
n't
mean
to
tell
me
any
more
,
I
can
see
,
Mr.
Elsmere
.
But
you
will
allow
me
to
be
astonished
?
'
'
Certainly
,
'
he
said
,
smiling
sadly
,
and
immediately
afterwards
relapsing
into
silence
.
'
Have
you
heard
of
the
squire
lately
?
'
he
asked
her
after
a
pause
.
'
Not
from
him
.
We
are
excellent
friends
when
we
meet
,
but
he
does
n't
consider
me
worth
writing
to
.
His
sister
—
little
idiot
—
writes
to
me
every
now
and
then
.
But
she
has
not
vouchsafed
me
a
letter
since
the
summer
.
I
should
say
from
the
last
accounts
that
he
was
breaking
.
'
'
He
had
a
mysterious
attack
of
illness
just
before
I
left
,
'
said
Robert
gravely
.
'
It
made
one
anxious
.
'
'
Oh
,
it
is
the
old
story
.
All
the
Wendovers
have
died
of
weak
hearts
or
queer
brains
—
generally
of
both
together
.
I
imagine
you
had
some
experience
of
the
squire
's
queerness
at
one
time
,
Mr.
Elsmere
.
I
ca
n't
say
you
and
he
seemed
to
be
on
particularly
good
terms
on
the
only
occasion
I
ever
had
the
pleasure
of
meeting
you
at
Murewell
.
'
She
looked
up
at
him
,
smiling
grimly
.
She
had
a
curiously
exact
memory
for
the
unpleasant
scenes
of
life
.
'
Oh
,
you
remember
that
unlucky
evening
!
'
said
Robert
,
reddening
a
little
.
'
We
soon
got
over
that
.
We
became
great
friends
.
'
Again
,
however
,
Lady
Charlotte
was
struck
by
the
quiet
melancholy
of
his
tone
.
How
strangely
the
look
of
youth
—
which
had
been
so
attractive
in
him
the
year
before
—
had
ebbed
from
the
man
's
face
—
from
complexion
,
eyes
,
expression
!
She
stared
at
him
,
full
of
a
brusque
tormenting
curiosity
as
to
the
how
and
why
.
'
I
hope
there
is
some
one
among
you
strong
enough
to
manage
Miss
Rose
,
'
she
said
presently
,
with
an
abrupt
change
of
subject
.
'
That
little
sister-in-law
of
yours
is
going
to
be
the
rage
.
'
'
Heaven
forbid
!
'
cried
Robert
fervently
.
'
Heaven
will
do
nothing
of
the
kind
.
She
is
twice
as
pretty
as
she
was
last
year
;
I
am
told
she
plays
twice
as
well
.
She
had
always
the
sort
of
manner
that
provoked
people
one
moment
and
charmed
them
the
next
.
And
,
to
judge
by
my
few
words
with
her
just
now
,
I
should
say
she
had
developed
it
finely
.
Well
,
now
,
Mr.
Elsmere
,
who
is
going
to
take
care
of
her
?
'
'
I
suppose
we
shall
all
have
a
try
at
it
,
Lady
Charlotte
.
'
'
Her
mother
does
n't
look
to
me
a
person
of
nerve
enough
,
'
said
Lady
Charlotte
coolly
.
'
She
is
a
girl
certain
—
absolutely
certain
—
to
have
adventures
,
and
you
may
as
well
be
prepared
for
them
.
'
'
I
can
only
trust
she
will
disappoint
your
expectations
,
Lady
Charlotte
,
'
said
Robert
,
with
a
slightly
sarcastic
emphasis
.
'
Elsmere
,
who
is
that
man
talking
to
Miss
Leyburn
?
'
asked
Langham
as
the
two
friends
stood
side
by
side
,
a
little
later
,
watching
the
spectacle
.
'
A
certain
Mr.
Flaxman
,
brother
to
a
pretty
little
neighbour
of
ours
in
Surrey
—
Lady
Helen
Varley
—
and
nephew
to
Lady
Charlotte
.
I
have
not
seen
him
here
before
;
but
I
think
the
girls
like
him
.
'
'
Is
he
the
Flaxman
who
got
the
mathematical
prize
at
Berlin
last
year
?
'
'
Yes
,
I
believe
so
.
A
striking
person
altogether
.
He
is
enormously
rich
,
Lady
Helen
tells
me
,
in
spite
of
an
elder
brother
.
All
the
money
in
his
mother
's
family
has
come
to
him
,
and
he
is
the
heir
to
Lord
Daniel
's
great
Derbyshire
property
.
Twelve
years
ago
I
used
to
hear
him
talked
about
incessantly
by
the
Cambridge
men
one
met
.
"
Citizen
Flaxman
"
they
called
him
,
for
his
opinions
'
sake
.
He
would
ask
his
scout
to
dinner
,
and
insist
on
dining
with
his
own
servants
,
and
shaking
hands
with
his
friends
'
butlers
.
The
scouts
and
the
butlers
put
an
end
to
that
,
and
altogether
,
I
imagine
,
the
world
disappointed
him
.
He
has
a
story
,
poor
fellow
,
too
—
a
young
wife
,
who
died
with
her
first
baby
ten
years
ago
.
The
world
supposes
him
never
to
have
got
over
it
,
which
makes
him
all
the
more
interesting
.
A
distinguished
face
,
do
n't
you
think
?
—
the
good
type
of
English
aristocrat
.
'
Langham
assented
.
But
his
attention
was
fixed
on
the
group
in
which
Rose
's
bright
hair
was
conspicuous
;
and
when
Robert
left
him
and
went
to
amuse
Mrs.
Leyburn
,
he
still
stood
rooted
to
the
same
spot
watching
.
Rose
was
leaning
against
the
piano
,
one
hand
behind
her
,
her
whole
attitude
full
of
a
young
,
easy
,
self-confident
grace
.
Mr.
Flaxman
was
standing
beside
her
,
and
they
were
deep
in
talk
—
serious
talk
apparently
,
to
judge
by
her
quiet
manner
and
the
charmed
attentive
interest
of
his
look
.
Occasionally
,
however
,
there
was
a
sally
on
her
part
,
and
an
answering
flash
of
laughter
on
his
;
but
the
stream
of
conversation
closed
immediately
over
the
interruption
,
and
flowed
on
as
evenly
as
before
.
Unconsciously
Langham
retreated
farther
and
farther
into
the
comparative
darkness
of
the
inner
room
.
He
felt
himself
singularly
insignificant
and
out
of
place
,
and
he
made
no
more
efforts
to
talk
.
Rose
played
a
violin
solo
,
and
played
it
with
astonishing
delicacy
and
fire
.
When
it
was
over
Langham
saw
her
turn
from
the
applauding
circle
crowding
in
upon
her
and
throw
a
smiling
interrogative
look
over
her
shoulder
at
Mr.
Flaxman
.
Mr.
Flaxman
bent
over
her
,
and
as
he
spoke
Langham
caught
her
flush
,
and
the
excited
sparkle
of
her
eyes
.
Was
this
the
'
some
one
in
the
stream
'
?
No
doubt
!
—
no
doubt
!
When
the
party
broke
up
Langham
found
himself
borne
towards
the
outer
room
,
and
before
he
knew
where
he
was
going
he
was
standing
beside
her
.
'
Are
you
here
still
?
'
she
said
to
him
,
startled
,
as
he
held
out
his
hand
.
He
replied
by
some
comments
on
the
music
,
a
little
lumbering
and
infelicitous
,
as
all
his
small-talk
was
.
She
hardly
listened
,
but
presently
she
looked
up
nervously
,
compelled
as
it
were
by
the
great
melancholy
eyes
above
her
.
'
We
are
not
always
in
this
turmoil
,
Mr.
Langham
.
Perhaps
some
other
day
you
will
come
and
make
friends
with
my
mother
?
'
CHAPTER
XXXII
Naturally
,
it
was
during
their
two
months
of
autumn
travel
that
Elsmere
and
Catherine
first
realised
in
detail
what
Elsmere
's
act
was
to
mean
to
them
,
as
husband
and
wife
,
in
the
future
.
Each
left
England
with
the
most
tender
and
heroic
resolves
.
And
no
one
who
knows
anything
of
life
will
need
to
be
told
that
even
for
these
two
finely-natured
people
such
resolves
were
infinitely
easier
to
make
than
to
carry
out
.
'
I
will
not
preach
to
you
—
I
will
not
persecute
you
!
'
Catherine
had
said
to
her
husband
at
the
moment
of
her
first
shock
and
anguish
.
And
she
did
her
utmost
,
poor
thing
,
to
keep
her
word
!
All
through
the
innumerable
bitternesses
which
accompanied
Elsmere
's
withdrawal
from
Murewell
—
the
letters
which
followed
them
,
the
remonstrances
of
public
and
private
friends
,
the
paragraphs
which
found
their
way
,
do
what
they
would
,
into
the
newspapers
—
the
pain
of
deserting
,
as
it
seemed
to
her
,
certain
poor
and
helpless
folk
who
had
been
taught
to
look
to
her
and
Robert
,
and
whose
bewildered
lamentations
came
to
them
through
young
Armitstead
—
through
all
this
she
held
her
peace
;
she
did
her
best
to
soften
Robert
's
grief
;
she
never
once
reproached
him
with
her
own
.
But
at
the
same
time
the
inevitable
separation
of
their
inmost
hopes
and
beliefs
had
thrown
her
back
on
herself
,
had
immensely
strengthened
that
puritan
independent
fibre
in
her
which
her
youth
had
developed
,
and
which
her
happy
marriage
had
only
temporarily
masked
,
not
weakened
.
Never
had
Catherine
believed
so
strongly
and
intensely
as
now
,
when
the
husband
,
who
had
been
the
guide
and
inspirer
of
her
religious
life
,
had
given
up
the
old
faith
and
practices
.
By
virtue
of
a
kind
of
nervous
instinctive
dread
,
his
relaxations
bred
increased
rigidity
in
her
.
Often
when
she
was
alone
—
or
at
night
—
she
was
seized
with
a
lonely
,
an
awful
sense
of
responsibility
.
Oh
!
let
her
guard
her
faith
,
not
only
for
her
own
sake
,
her
child
's
,
her
Lord
's
,
but
for
his
—
that
it
might
be
given
to
her
patience
at
last
to
lead
him
back
.
And
the
only
way
in
which
it
seemed
to
her
possible
to
guard
it
was
to
set
up
certain
barriers
of
silence
.
She
feared
that
fiery
persuasive
quality
in
Robert
she
had
so
often
seen
at
work
on
other
people
.
With
him
conviction
was
life
—
it
was
the
man
himself
,
to
an
extraordinary
degree
.
How
was
she
to
resist
the
pressure
of
those
new
ardours
with
which
his
mind
was
filling
—
she
who
loved
him
!
—
except
by
building
,
at
any
rate
for
the
time
,
an
enclosure
of
silence
round
her
Christian
beliefs
?
It
was
in
some
ways
a
pathetic
repetition
of
the
situation
between
Robert
and
the
squire
in
the
early
days
of
their
friendship
,
but
in
Catherine
's
mind
there
was
no
troubling
presence
of
new
knowledge
conspiring
from
within
with
the
forces
without
.
At
this
moment
of
her
life
she
was
more
passionately
convinced
than
ever
that
the
only
knowledge
truly
worth
having
in
this
world
was
the
knowledge
of
God
's
mercies
in
Christ
.
So
gradually
with
a
gentle
persistency
she
withdrew
certain
parts
of
herself
from
Robert
's
ken
;
she
avoided
certain
subjects
,
or
anything
that
might
lead
to
them
;
she
ignored
the
religious
and
philosophical
books
he
was
constantly
reading
;
she
prayed
and
thought
alone
—
always
for
him
,
of
him
—
but
still
resolutely
alone
.
It
was
impossible
,
however
,
that
so
great
a
change
in
their
life
could
be
effected
without
a
perpetual
sense
of
breaking
links
,
a
perpetual
series
of
dumb
wounds
and
griefs
on
both
sides
.
There
came
a
moment
when
,
as
he
sat
alone
one
evening
in
a
pine
wood
above
the
Lake
of
Geneva
,
Elsmere
suddenly
awoke
to
the
conviction
that
in
spite
of
all
his
efforts
and
illusions
,
their
relation
to
each
other
was
altering
,
dwindling
,
impoverishing
;
the
terror
of
that
summer
night
at
Murewell
was
being
dismally
justified
.
His
own
mind
during
this
time
was
in
a
state
of
perpetual
discovery
,
'
sailing
the
seas
where
there
was
never
sand
'
—
the
vast
shadowy
seas
of
speculative
thought
.
All
his
life
,
reserve
to
those
nearest
to
him
had
been
pain
and
grief
to
him
.
He
was
one
of
those
people
,
as
we
know
,
who
throw
off
readily
;
to
whom
sympathy
,
expansion
,
are
indispensable
;
who
suffer
physically
and
mentally
from
anything
cold
and
rigid
beside
them
.
And
now
,
at
every
turn
,
in
their
talk
,
their
reading
,
in
many
of
the
smallest
details
of
their
common
existence
,
Elsmere
began
to
feel
the
presence
of
this
cold
and
rigid
something
.
He
was
ever
conscious
of
self-defence
on
her
side
,
of
pained
drawing
back
on
his
.
And
with
every
succeeding
effort
of
his
at
self-repression
,
it
seemed
to
him
as
though
fresh
nails
were
driven
into
the
coffin
of
that
old
free
habit
of
perfect
confidence
which
had
made
the
heaven
of
their
life
since
they
had
been
man
and
wife
.
He
sat
on
for
long
,
through
the
September
evening
,
pondering
,
wrestling
.
Was
it
simply
inevitable
,
the
natural
result
of
his
own
act
,
and
of
her
antecedents
,
to
which
he
must
submit
himself
,
as
to
any
mutilation
or
loss
of
power
in
the
body
?
The
young
lover
and
husband
rebelled
—
the
believer
rebelled
—
against
the
admission
.
Probably
if
his
change
had
left
him
anchorless
and
forsaken
,
as
it
leaves
many
men
,
he
would
have
been
ready
enough
to
submit
,
in
terror
lest
his
own
forlornness
should
bring
about
hers
.
But
in
spite
of
the
intellectual
confusion
,
which
inevitably
attends
any
wholesale
reconstruction
of
a
man
's
platform
of
action
,
he
had
never
been
more
sure
of
God
,
or
the
Divine
aims
of
the
world
,
than
now
;
never
more
open
than
now
,
amid
this
exquisite
Alpine
world
,
to
those
passionate
moments
of
religious
trust
which
are
man
's
eternal
defiance
to
the
iron
silences
about
him
.
Originally
,
as
we
know
,
he
had
shrunk
from
the
thought
of
change
in
her
corresponding
to
his
own
;
now
that
his
own
foothold
was
strengthening
,
his
longing
for
a
new
union
was
overpowering
that
old
dread
.
The
proselytising
instinct
may
be
never
quite
morally
defensible
,
even
as
between
husband
and
wife
.
Nevertheless
,
in
all
strong
,
convinced
,
and
ardent
souls
it
exists
,
and
must
be
reckoned
with
.
At
last
one
evening
he
was
overcome
by
a
sudden
impulse
which
neutralised
for
the
moment
his
nervous
dread
of
hurting
her
.
Some
little
incident
of
their
day
together
was
rankling
,
and
it
was
borne
in
upon
him
that
almost
any
violent
protest
on
her
part
would
have
been
preferable
to
this
constant
soft
evasion
of
hers
,
which
was
gradually
,
imperceptibly
dividing
heart
from
heart
.
They
were
in
a
bare
attic
room
at
the
very
top
of
one
of
the
huge
newly-built
hotels
which
during
the
last
twenty
years
have
invaded
all
the
high
places
of
Switzerland
.
The
August
which
had
been
so
hot
in
England
had
been
rainy
and
broken
in
Switzerland
.
But
it
had
been
followed
by
a
warm
and
mellow
September
,
and
the
favourite
hotels
below
a
certain
height
were
still
full
.
When
the
Elsmeres
arrived
at
Les
Avants
,
this
scantily
furnished
garret
,
out
of
which
some
servants
had
been
hurried
to
make
room
for
them
,
was
all
that
could
be
found
.
They
,
however
,
liked
it
for
its
space
and
its
view
.
They
looked
sideways
from
their
windows
on
to
the
upper
end
of
the
lake
,
three
thousand
feet
below
them
.
Opposite
,
across
the
blue
water
,
rose
a
grandiose
rampart
of
mountains
,
the
stage
on
which
from
morn
till
night
the
sun
went
through
a
long
transformation
scene
of
beauty
.
The
water
was
marked
every
now
and
then
by
passing
boats
and
steamers
—
tiny
specks
which
served
to
measure
the
vastness
of
all
around
them
.
To
right
and
left
,
spurs
of
green
mountains
shut
out
alike
the
lower
lake
and
the
icy
splendours
of
the
'
Valais
depths
profound
.
'
What
made
the
charm
of
the
narrow
prospect
was
,
first
,
the
sense
it
produced
in
the
spectator
of
hanging
dizzily
above
the
lake
,
with
infinite
air
below
him
,
and
,
then
,
the
magical
effects
of
dawn
and
evening
,
when
wreaths
of
mist
would
blot
out
the
valley
and
the
lake
,
and
leave
the
eye
of
the
watcher
face
to
face
across
the
fathomless
abyss
with
the
majestic
mountain
mass
,
and
its
attendant
retinue
of
clouds
,
as
though
they
and
he
were
alone
in
the
universe
.
It
was
a
peaceful
September
night
.
From
the
open
window
beside
him
Robert
could
see
a
world
of
high
moonlight
,
limited
and
invaded
on
all
sides
by
sharp
black
masses
of
shade
.
A
few
rare
lights
glimmered
on
the
spreading
alp
below
,
and
every
now
and
then
a
breath
of
music
came
to
them
wafted
from
a
military
band
playing
a
mile
or
two
away
.
They
had
been
climbing
most
of
the
afternoon
,
and
Catherine
was
lying
down
,
her
brown
hair
loose
about
her
,
the
thin
oval
of
her
face
and
clear
line
of
brow
just
visible
in
the
dim
candlelight
.
Suddenly
he
stretched
out
his
hand
for
his
Greek
Testament
,
which
was
always
near
him
,
though
there
had
been
no
common
reading
since
that
bitter
day
of
his
confession
to
her
.
The
mark
still
lay
in
the
well-worn
volume
at
the
point
reached
in
their
last
reading
at
Murewell
.
He
opened
upon
it
,
and
began
the
eleventh
chapter
of
St.
John
.
Catherine
trembled
when
she
saw
him
take
up
the
book
.
He
began
without
preface
,
treating
the
passage
before
him
in
his
usual
way
,
—
that
is
to
say
,
taking
verse
after
verse
in
the
Greek
,
translating
and
commenting
.
She
never
spoke
all
through
,
and
at
last
he
closed
the
little
Testament
,
and
bent
towards
her
,
his
look
full
of
feeling
.
'
Catherine
!
ca
n't
you
let
me
—
will
you
never
let
me
tell
you
,
now
,
how
that
story
—
how
the
old
things
—
affect
me
,
from
the
new
point
of
view
?
You
always
stop
me
when
I
try
.
I
believe
you
think
of
me
as
having
thrown
it
all
away
.
Would
it
not
comfort
you
sometimes
,
if
you
knew
that
although
much
of
the
Gospels
,
this
very
raising
of
Lazarus
,
for
instance
,
seem
to
me
no
longer
true
in
the
historical
sense
,
still
they
are
always
full
to
me
of
an
ideal
,
a
poetical
truth
?
Lazarus
may
not
have
died
and
come
to
life
,
may
never
have
existed
;
but
still
to
me
,
now
as
always
,
love
for
Jesus
of
Nazareth
is
"
resurrection
"
and
"
life
"
?
'
He
spoke
with
the
most
painful
diffidence
,
the
most
wistful
tenderness
.
There
was
a
pause
.
Then
Catherine
said
,
in
a
rigid
constrained
voice
,
—
'
If
the
Gospels
are
not
true
in
fact
,
as
history
,
as
reality
,
I
cannot
see
how
they
are
true
at
all
,
or
of
any
value
.
'
The
next
minute
she
rose
,
and
,
going
to
the
little
wooden
dressing-table
,
she
began
to
brush
out
and
plait
for
the
night
her
straight
silky
veil
of
hair
.
As
she
passed
him
Robert
saw
her
face
pale
and
set
.
He
sat
quiet
another
moment
or
two
,
and
then
he
went
towards
her
and
took
her
in
his
arms
.
'
Catherine
,
'
he
said
to
her
,
his
lips
trembling
,
'
am
I
never
to
speak
my
mind
to
you
any
more
?
Do
you
mean
always
to
hold
me
at
arm
's
length
—
to
refuse
always
to
hear
what
I
have
to
say
in
defence
of
the
change
which
has
cost
us
both
so
much
?
'
She
hesitated
,
trying
hard
to
restrain
herself
.
But
it
was
of
no
use
.
She
broke
into
tears
—
quiet
but
most
bitter
tears
.
'
Robert
,
I
cannot
!
Oh
!
you
must
see
I
cannot
.
It
is
not
because
I
am
hard
,
but
because
I
am
weak
.
How
can
I
stand
up
against
you
?
I
dare
not
—
I
dare
not
.
If
you
were
not
yourself
—
not
my
husband
—
—
'
Her
voice
dropped
.
Robert
guessed
that
at
the
bottom
of
her
resistance
there
was
an
intolerable
fear
of
what
love
might
do
with
her
if
she
once
gave
it
an
opening
.
He
felt
himself
cruel
,
brutal
,
and
yet
an
urgent
sense
of
all
that
was
at
stake
drove
him
on
.
'
I
would
not
press
or
worry
you
,
God
knows
!
'
he
said
,
almost
piteously
,
kissing
her
forehead
as
she
lay
against
him
.
'
But
remember
,
Catherine
,
I
cannot
put
these
things
aside
.
I
once
thought
I
could
—
that
I
could
fall
back
on
my
historical
work
,
and
leave
religious
matters
alone
as
far
as
criticism
was
concerned
.
But
I
cannot
.
They
fill
my
mind
more
and
more
.
I
feel
more
and
more
impelled
to
search
them
out
,
and
to
put
my
conclusions
about
them
into
shape
.
And
all
the
time
this
is
going
on
,
are
you
and
I
to
remain
strangers
to
one
another
in
all
that
concerns
our
truest
life
—
are
we
,
Catherine
?
'
He
spoke
in
a
low
voice
of
intense
feeling
.
She
turned
her
face
and
pressed
her
lips
to
his
hand
.
Both
had
the
scene
in
the
wood-path
after
her
flight
and
return
in
their
minds
,
and
both
were
filled
with
a
despairing
sense
of
the
difficulty
of
living
,
not
through
great
crises
,
but
through
the
detail
of
every
day
.
'
Could
you
not
work
at
other
things
?
'
she
whispered
.
He
was
silent
,
looking
straight
before
him
into
the
moonlit
shimmer
and
white
spectral
hazes
of
the
valley
,
his
arms
still
round
her
.
'
No
!
'
he
burst
out
at
last
;
'
not
till
I
have
satisfied
myself
.
I
feel
it
burning
within
me
,
like
a
command
from
God
,
to
work
out
the
problem
,
to
make
it
clearer
to
myself
—
and
to
others
,
'
he
added
deliberately
.
Her
heart
sank
within
her
.
The
last
words
called
up
before
her
a
dismal
future
of
controversy
and
publicity
,
in
which
at
every
step
she
would
be
condemning
her
husband
.
'
And
all
this
time
,
all
these
years
,
perhaps
,
'
he
went
on
—
before
,
in
her
perplexity
,
she
could
find
words
,
—
'
is
my
wife
never
going
to
let
me
speak
freely
to
her
?
Am
I
to
act
,
think
,
judge
,
without
her
knowledge
?
Is
she
to
know
less
of
me
than
a
friend
,
less
even
than
the
public
for
whom
I
write
or
speak
?
'
It
seemed
intolerable
to
him
,
all
the
more
that
every
moment
they
stood
there
together
it
was
being
impressed
upon
him
that
in
fact
this
was
what
she
meant
,
what
she
had
contemplated
from
the
beginning
.
'
Robert
,
I
cannot
defend
myself
against
you
,
'
she
cried
,
again
clinging
to
him
.
'
Oh
,
think
for
me
!
You
know
what
I
feel
;
that
I
dare
not
risk
what
is
not
mine
!
'
He
kissed
her
again
,
and
then
moved
away
from
her
to
the
window
.
It
began
to
be
plain
to
him
that
his
effort
was
merely
futile
,
and
had
better
not
have
been
made
.
But
his
heart
was
very
sore
.
'
Do
you
ever
ask
yourself
,
'
he
said
presently
,
looking
steadily
into
the
night
—
no
,
I
do
n't
think
you
can
,
Catherine
—
what
part
the
reasoning
faculty
,
that
faculty
which
marks
us
out
from
the
animal
,
was
meant
to
play
in
life
?
Did
God
give
it
to
us
simply
that
you
might
trample
upon
it
and
ignore
it
,
both
in
yourself
and
me
?
'
She
had
dropped
into
a
chair
,
and
sat
with
clasped
hands
,
her
hair
falling
about
her
white
dressing-gown
,
and
framing
the
nobly-featured
face
blanched
by
the
moonlight
.
She
did
not
attempt
a
reply
,
but
the
melancholy
of
an
invincible
resolution
,
which
was
,
so
to
speak
,
not
her
own
doing
,
but
rather
was
like
a
necessity
imposed
upon
her
from
outside
,
breathed
through
her
silence
.
He
turned
and
looked
at
her
.
She
raised
her
arms
,
and
the
gesture
reminded
him
for
a
moment
of
the
Donatello
figure
in
the
Murewell
library
—
the
same
delicate
austere
beauty
,
the
same
tenderness
,
the
same
underlying
reserve
.
He
took
her
outstretched
hands
and
held
them
against
his
breast
.
His
hotly-beating
heart
told
him
that
he
was
perfectly
right
,
and
that
to
accept
the
barriers
she
was
setting
up
would
impoverish
all
their
future
life
together
.
But
he
could
not
struggle
with
the
woman
on
whom
he
had
already
inflicted
so
severe
a
practical
trial
.
Moreover
,
he
felt
strangely
as
he
stood
there
the
danger
of
rousing
in
her
those
illimitable
possibilities
of
the
religious
temper
,
the
dread
of
which
had
once
before
risen
spectre-like
in
his
heart
.
So
once
more
he
yielded
.
She
rewarded
him
with
all
the
charm
,
all
the
delightfulness
,
of
which
under
the
circumstances
she
was
mistress
.
They
wandered
up
the
Rhone
valley
,
through
the
St.
Gothard
,
and
spent
a
fortnight
between
Como
and
Lugano
.
During
these
days
her
one
thought
was
to
revive
and
refresh
him
,
and
he
let
her
tend
him
,
and
lent
himself
to
the
various
heroic
futilities
by
which
she
would
try
—
as
part
of
her
nursing
mission
—
to
make
the
future
look
less
empty
and
their
distress
less
real
.
Of
course
under
all
this
delicate
give
and
take
both
suffered
;
both
felt
that
the
promise
of
their
marriage
had
failed
them
,
and
that
they
had
come
dismally
down
to
a
second
best
.
But
after
all
they
were
young
,
and
the
autumn
was
beautiful
—
and
though
they
hurt
each
other
,
they
were
alone
together
and
constantly
,
passionately
,
interested
in
each
other
.
Italy
,
too
,
softened
all
things
—
even
Catherine
's
English
tone
and
temper
.
As
long
as
the
delicious
luxury
of
the
Italian
autumn
,
with
all
its
primitive
pagan
suggestiveness
,
was
still
round
them
;
as
long
as
they
were
still
among
the
cities
of
the
Lombard
plain
—
that
battle-ground
and
highway
of
nations
,
which
roused
all
Robert
's
historical
enthusiasm
,
and
set
him
reading
,
discussing
,
thinking
,
in
his
old
impetuous
way
,
about
something
else
than
minute
problems
of
Christian
evidence
,
—
the
new-born
friction
between
them
was
necessarily
reduced
to
a
minimum
.
But
with
their
return
home
,
with
their
plunge
into
London
life
,
the
difficulties
of
the
situation
began
to
define
themselves
more
sharply
.
In
after
years
,
one
of
Catherine
's
dreariest
memories
was
the
memory
of
their
first
instalment
in
the
Bedford
Square
house
.
Robert
's
anxiety
to
make
it
pleasant
and
homelike
was
pitiful
to
watch
.
He
had
none
of
the
modern
passion
for
upholstery
,
and
probably
the
vaguest
notions
of
what
was
æsthetically
correct
.
But
during
their
furnishing
days
he
was
never
tired
of
wandering
about
in
search
of
pretty
things
—
a
rug
,
a
screen
,
an
engraving
—
which
might
brighten
the
rooms
in
which
Catherine
was
to
live
.
He
would
put
everything
in
its
place
with
a
restless
eagerness
,
and
then
Catherine
would
be
called
in
,
and
would
play
her
part
bravely
.
She
would
smile
and
ask
questions
,
and
admire
,
and
then
when
Robert
had
gone
,
she
would
move
slowly
to
the
window
and
look
out
at
the
great
mass
of
the
British
Museum
frowning
beyond
the
little
dingy
strip
of
garden
,
with
a
sick
longing
in
her
heart
for
the
Murewell
cornfield
,
the
wood-path
,
the
village
,
the
free
air-bathed
spaces
of
heath
and
common
.
Oh
!
this
huge
London
,
with
its
unfathomable
poverty
and
its
heartless
wealth
—
how
it
oppressed
and
bewildered
her
!
Its
mere
grime
and
squalor
,
its
murky
poisoned
atmosphere
,
were
a
perpetual
trial
to
the
countrywoman
brought
up
amid
the
dash
of
mountain
streams
and
the
scents
of
mountain
pastures
.
She
drooped
physically
for
a
time
,
as
did
the
child
.
But
morally
?
With
Catherine
everything
really
depended
on
the
moral
state
.
She
could
have
followed
Robert
to
a
London
living
with
a
joy
and
hope
which
would
have
completely
deadened
all
these
repulsions
of
the
senses
now
so
active
in
her
.
But
without
this
inner
glow
,
in
the
presence
of
the
profound
spiritual
difference
circumstance
had
developed
between
her
and
the
man
she
loved
,
everything
was
a
burden
.
Even
her
religion
,
though
she
clung
to
it
with
an
ever-increasing
tenacity
,
failed
at
this
period
to
bring
her
much
comfort
.
Every
night
it
seemed
to
her
that
the
day
had
been
one
long
and
dreary
struggle
to
make
something
out
of
nothing
;
and
in
the
morning
the
night
,
too
,
seemed
to
have
been
alive
with
conflict
—
All
Thy
waves
and
Thy
storms
have
gone
over
me
!
Robert
guessed
it
all
,
and
whatever
remorseful
love
could
do
to
soften
such
a
strain
and
burden
he
tried
to
do
.
He
encouraged
her
to
find
work
among
the
poor
;
he
tried
in
the
tenderest
ways
to
interest
her
in
the
great
spectacle
of
London
life
which
was
already
,
in
spite
of
yearning
and
regret
,
beginning
to
fascinate
and
absorb
himself
.
But
their
standards
were
now
so
different
that
she
was
constantly
shrinking
from
what
attracted
him
,
or
painfully
judging
what
was
to
him
merely
curious
and
interesting
.
He
was
really
more
and
more
oppressed
by
her
intellectual
limitations
,
though
never
consciously
would
he
have
allowed
himself
to
admit
them
,
and
she
was
more
and
more
bewildered
by
what
constantly
seemed
to
her
a
breaking
up
of
principle
,
a
relaxation
of
moral
fibre
.
And
the
work
among
the
poor
was
difficult
.
Robert
instinctively
felt
that
for
him
to
offer
his
services
in
charitable
work
to
the
narrow
Evangelical
,
whose
church
Catherine
had
joined
,
would
have
been
merely
to
invite
rebuff
.
So
that
even
in
the
love
and
care
of
the
unfortunate
they
were
separated
.
For
he
had
not
yet
found
a
sphere
of
work
,
and
,
if
he
had
,
Catherine
's
invincible
impulse
in
these
matters
was
always
to
attach
herself
to
the
authorities
and
powers
that
be
.
He
could
only
acquiesce
when
she
suggested
applying
to
Mr.
Clarendon
for
some
charitable
occupation
for
herself
.
After
her
letter
to
him
,
Catherine
had
an
interview
with
the
vicar
at
his
home
.
She
was
puzzled
by
the
start
and
sudden
pause
for
recollection
with
which
he
received
her
name
,
the
tone
of
compassion
which
crept
into
his
talk
with
her
,
the
pitying
look
and
grasp
of
the
hand
with
which
he
dismissed
her
.
Then
,
as
she
walked
home
,
it
flashed
upon
her
that
she
had
seen
a
copy
,
some
weeks
old
,
of
the
Record
lying
on
the
good
man
's
table
,
the
very
copy
which
contained
Robert
's
name
among
the
list
of
men
who
during
the
last
ten
years
had
thrown
up
the
Anglican
ministry
.
The
delicate
face
flushed
miserably
from
brow
to
chin
.
Pitied
for
being
Robert
's
wife
!
Oh
,
monstrous
!
—
incredible
!
Meanwhile
Robert
,
man-like
,
in
spite
of
all
the
griefs
and
sorenesses
of
the
position
,
had
immeasurably
the
best
of
it
.
In
the
first
place
such
incessant
activity
of
mind
as
his
is
in
itself
both
tonic
and
narcotic
.
It
was
constantly
generating
in
him
fresh
purposes
and
hopes
,
constantly
deadening
regret
,
and
pushing
the
old
things
out
of
sight
.
He
was
full
of
many
projects
,
literary
and
social
,
but
they
were
all
in
truth
the
fruits
of
one
long
experimental
process
,
the
passionate
attempt
of
the
reason
to
justify
to
itself
the
God
in
whom
the
heart
believed
.
Abstract
thought
,
as
Mr.
Grey
saw
,
had
had
comparatively
little
to
do
with
Elsmere
's
relinquishment
of
the
Church
of
England
.
But
as
soon
as
the
Christian
bases
of
faith
were
overthrown
,
that
faith
had
naturally
to
find
for
itself
other
supports
and
attachments
.
For
faith
