Indeed,
in
the
first
enthusiasm
of
his
proprietorship
of
the
Pope
works
at
East
Purblow
,
he
had
organized
one
of
those
benevolent
industrial
experiments
that
are
now
so
common
.
He
felt
strongly
against
the
drink
evil
,
that
is
to
say
,
the
unrestricted
liberty
of
common
people
to
drink
what
they
prefer
,
and
he
was
acutely
impressed
by
the
fact
that
working-class
families
do
not
spend
their
money
in
the
way
that
seems
most
desirable
to
upper
middle-class
critics
.
Accordingly
he
did
his
best
to
replace
the
dangerous
freedoms
of
money
by
that
ideal
of
the
social
reformer
,
Payment
in
Kind
.
To
use
his
invariable
phrase
,
the
East
Purblow
experiment
did
"
no
mean
service
"
to
the
cause
of
social
reform
.
Unhappily
it
came
to
an
end
through
a
prosecution
under
the
Truck
Act
,
that
blot
upon
the
Statute
Book
,
designed
,
it
would
appear
,
even
deliberately
to
vitiate
man
's
benevolent
control
of
his
fellow
man
.
The
lessons
to
be
drawn
from
that
experience
,
however
,
grew
if
anything
with
the
years
.
He
rarely
spoke
without
an
allusion
to
it
,
and
it
was
quite
remarkable
how
readily
it
could
be
adapted
to
illuminate
a
hundred
different
issues
in
the
hospitable
columns
of
the
Spectator
...
.
At
seven
o'clock
Marjorie
found
herself
upstairs
changing
into
her
apple-green
frock
.
She
had
had
a
good
refreshing
wash
in
cold
soft
water
,
and
it
was
pleasant
to
change
into
thinner
silk
stockings
and
dainty
satin
slippers
and
let
down
and
at
last
brush
her
hair
and
dress
loiteringly
after
the
fatigues
of
her
journey
and
the
activities
of
her
arrival
.
She
looked
out
on
the
big
church
and
the
big
trees
behind
it
against
the
golden
quiet
of
a
summer
evening
with
extreme
approval
.
"
I
suppose
those
birds
are
rooks
,
"
she
said
.
But
Daffy
had
gone
to
see
that
the
pseudo-twins
had
done
themselves
justice
in
their
muslin
frocks
and
pink
sashes
;
they
were
apt
to
be
a
little
sketchy
with
their
less
accessible
buttons
.
Marjorie
became
aware
of
two
gentlemen
with
her
mother
on
the
lawn
below
.
One
was
her
almost
affianced
lover
,
Will
Magnet
,
the
humorous
writer
.
She
had
been
doing
her
best
not
to
think
about
him
all
day
,
but
now
he
became
an
unavoidable
central
fact
.
She
regarded
him
with
an
almost
perplexed
scrutiny
,
and
wondered
vividly
why
she
had
been
so
excited
and
pleased
by
his
attentions
during
the
previous
summer
.
Mr.
Magnet
was
one
of
those
quiet
,
deliberately
unassuming
people
who
do
not
even
attempt
to
be
beautiful
.
Not
for
him
was
it
to
pretend
,
but
to
prick
the
bladder
of
pretence
.
He
was
a
fairish
man
of
forty
,
pale
,
with
a
large
protuberant
,
observant
grey
eye
—
I
speak
particularly
of
the
left
—
and
a
face
of
quiet
animation
warily
alert
for
the
wit
's
opportunity
.
His
nose
and
chin
were
pointed
,
and
his
lips
thin
and
quaintly
pressed
together
.
He
was
dressed
in
grey
,
with
a
low-collared
silken
shirt
showing
a
thin
neck
,
and
a
flowing
black
tie
,
and
he
carried
a
grey
felt
hat
in
his
joined
hands
behind
his
back
.
She
could
hear
the
insinuating
cadences
of
his
voice
as
he
talked
in
her
mother
's
ear
.
The
other
gentleman
,
silent
on
her
mother
's
right
,
must
,
she
knew
,
be
Mr.
Wintersloan
,
whom
Mr.
Magnet
had
proposed
to
bring
over
.
His
dress
betrayed
that
modest
gaiety
of
disposition
becoming
in
an
artist
,
and
indeed
he
was
one
of
Mr.
Magnet
's
favourite
illustrators
.
He
was
in
a
dark
bluish-grey
suit
;
a
black
tie
that
was
quite
unusually
broad
went
twice
around
his
neck
before
succumbing
to
the
bow
,
and
his
waistcoat
appeared
to
be
of
some
gaily-patterned
orange
silk
.
Marjorie
's
eyes
returned
to
Mr.
Magnet
.
Hitherto
she
had
never
had
an
opportunity
of
remarking
that
his
hair
was
more
than
a
little
attenuated
towards
the
crown
.
It
was
funny
how
his
tie
came
out
under
his
chin
to
the
right
.
What
an
odd
thing
men
's
dress
had
become
,
she
thought
.
Why
did
they
wear
those
ridiculous
collars
and
ties
?
Why
did
n't
they
always
dress
in
flannels
and
look
as
fine
and
slender
and
active
as
the
elder
Carmel
boy
for
example
?
Mr.
Magnet
could
n't
be
such
an
ill-shaped
man
.
Why
did
n't
every
one
dress
to
be
just
as
beautiful
and
splendid
as
possible
?
—
instead
of
wearing
queer
things
!
"
Coming
down
?
"
said
Daffy
,
a
vision
of
sulphur-yellow
,
appearing
in
the
doorway
.
"
Let
them
go
first
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
with
a
finer
sense
of
effect
.
"
And
Theodore
.
We
do
n't
want
to
make
part
of
a
comic
entry
with
Theodore
,
Daffy
.
"
Accordingly
,
the
two
sisters
watched
discreetly
—
they
had
to
be
wary
on
account
of
Mr.
Magnet
's
increasingly
frequent
glances
at
the
windows
—
and
when
at
last
all
the
rest
of
the
family
had
appeared
below
,
they
decided
their
cue
had
come
.
Mr.
Pope
strolled
into
the
group
,
with
no
trace
of
his
recent
debacle
except
a
slight
limp
.
He
was
wearing
a
jacket
of
damson-coloured
velvet
,
which
he
affected
in
the
country
,
and
all
traces
of
his
Grand
Dudgeon
were
gone
.
But
then
he
rarely
had
Grand
Dudgeon
except
in
the
sanctities
of
family
life
,
and
hardly
ever
when
any
other
man
was
about
.
"
Well
,
"
his
daughters
heard
him
say
,
with
a
witty
allusiveness
that
was
difficult
to
follow
,
"
so
the
Magnet
has
come
to
the
Mountain
again
—
eh
?
"
"
Come
on
,
Madge
,
"
said
Daffy
,
and
the
two
sisters
emerged
harmoniously
together
from
the
house
.
It
would
have
been
manifest
to
a
meaner
capacity
than
any
present
that
evening
that
Mr.
Magnet
regarded
Marjorie
with
a
distinguished
significance
.
He
had
two
eyes
,
but
he
had
that
mysterious
quality
so
frequently
associated
with
a
bluish-grey
iris
which
gives
the
effect
of
looking
hard
with
one
large
orb
,
a
sort
of
grey
searchlight
effect
,
and
he
used
this
eye
ray
now
to
convey
a
respectful
but
firm
admiration
in
the
most
unequivocal
manner
.
He
saluted
Daffy
courteously
,
and
then
allowed
himself
to
retain
Marjorie
's
hand
for
just
a
second
longer
than
was
necessary
as
he
said
—
very
simply
—
"
I
am
very
pleased
indeed
to
meet
you
again
—
very
.
"
A
slight
embarrassment
fell
between
them
.
"
You
are
staying
near
here
,
Mr.
Magnet
?
"
"
At
the
inn
,
"
said
Mr.
Magnet
,
and
then
,
"
I
chose
it
because
it
would
be
near
you
.
"
His
eye
pressed
upon
her
again
for
a
moment
.
"
Is
it
comfortable
?
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
So
charmingly
simple
,
"
said
Mr.
Magnet
.
"
I
love
it
.
"
A
tinkling
bell
announced
the
preparedness
of
supper
,
and
roused
the
others
to
the
consciousness
that
they
were
silently
watching
Mr.
Magnet
and
Marjorie
.
"
It
's
quite
a
simple
farmhouse
supper
,
"
said
Mrs.
Pope
.
There
were
ducks
,
green
peas
,
and
adolescent
new
potatoes
for
supper
,
and
afterwards
stewed
fruit
and
cream
and
junket
and
cheese
,
bottled
beer
,
Gilbey
's
Burgundy
,
and
home-made
lemonade
.
Mrs.
Pope
carved
,
because
Mr.
Pope
splashed
too
much
,
and
bones
upset
him
and
made
him
want
to
show
up
chicken
in
the
Times
.
So
he
sat
at
the
other
end
and
rallied
his
guests
while
Mrs.
Pope
distributed
the
viands
.
He
showed
not
a
trace
of
his
recent
umbrage
.
Theodore
sat
between
Daffy
and
his
mother
because
of
his
table
manners
,
and
Marjorie
was
on
her
father
's
right
hand
and
next
to
Mr.
Wintersloan
,
while
Mr.
Magnet
was
in
the
middle
of
the
table
on
the
opposite
side
in
a
position
convenient
for
looking
at
her
.
Both
maids
waited
.
The
presence
of
Magnet
invariably
stirred
the
latent
humorist
in
Mr.
Pope
.
He
felt
that
he
who
talks
to
humorists
should
himself
be
humorous
,
and
it
was
his
private
persuasion
that
with
more
attention
he
might
have
been
,
to
use
a
favourite
form
of
expression
,
"
no
mean
jester
.
"
Quite
a
lot
of
little
things
of
his
were
cherished
as
"
Good
"
both
by
himself
and
,
with
occasional
inaccuracies
,
by
Mrs.
Pope
.
He
opened
out
now
in
a
strain
of
rich
allusiveness
.
"
What
will
you
drink
,
Mr.
Wintersloan
?
"
he
said
.
"
Wine
of
the
country
,
yclept
beer
,
red
wine
from
France
,
or
my
wife
's
potent
brew
from
the
golden
lemon
?
"
Mr.
Wintersloan
thought
he
would
take
Burgundy
.
Mr.
Magnet
preferred
beer
.
"
I
've
heard
there
's
iron
in
the
Beer
,
And
I
believe
it
,
"
misquoted
Mr.
Pope
,
and
nodded
as
it
were
to
the
marker
to
score
.
"
Daffy
and
Marjorie
are
still
in
the
lemonade
stage
.
Will
you
take
a
little
Burgundy
to-night
,
Mummy
?
"
Mrs.
Pope
decided
she
would
,
and
was
inspired
to
ask
Mr.
Wintersloan
if
he
had
been
in
that
part
of
the
country
before
.
Topography
ensued
.
Mr.
Wintersloan
had
a
style
of
his
own
,
and
spoke
of
the
Buryhamstreet
district
as
a
"
pooty
little
country
—
pooty
little
hills
,
with
a
swirl
in
them
.
"
This
pleased
Daffy
and
Marjorie
,
and
their
eyes
met
for
a
moment
.
Then
Mr.
Magnet
,
with
a
ray
full
on
Marjorie
,
said
he
had
always
been
fond
of
Surrey
.
"
I
think
if
ever
I
made
a
home
in
the
country
I
should
like
it
to
be
here
.
"
Mr.
Wintersloan
said
Surrey
would
tire
him
,
it
was
too
bossy
and
curly
,
too
flocculent
;
he
would
prefer
to
look
on
broader
,
simpler
lines
,
with
just
a
sudden
catch
in
the
breath
in
them
—
if
you
understand
me
?
Marjorie
did
,
and
said
so
.
"
A
sob
—
such
as
you
get
at
the
break
of
a
pinewood
on
a
hill
.
"
This
baffled
Mr.
Pope
,
but
Marjorie
took
it
.
"
Or
the
short
dry
cough
of
a
cliff
,
"
she
said
.
"
Exactly
,
"
said
Mr.
Wintersloan
,
and
having
turned
a
little
deliberate
close-lipped
smile
on
her
for
a
moment
,
resumed
his
wing
.
"
So
long
as
a
landscape
does
n't
sneeze
"
said
Mr.
Magnet
,
in
that
irresistible
dry
way
of
his
,
and
Rom
and
Sydney
,
at
any
rate
,
choked
.
"
Now
is
the
hour
when
Landscapes
yawn
,
"
mused
Mr.
Pope
,
coming
in
all
right
at
the
end
.
Then
Mrs.
Pope
asked
Mr.
Wintersloan
,
about
his
route
to
Buryhamstreet
,
and
then
Mr.
Pope
asked
Mr.
Magnet
whether
he
was
playing
at
a
new
work
or
working
at
a
new
play
.
Mr.
Magnet
said
he
was
dreaming
over
a
play
.
He
wanted
to
bring
out
the
more
serious
side
of
his
humour
,
go
a
little
deeper
into
things
than
he
had
hitherto
done
.
"
Mingling
smiles
and
tears
,
"
said
Mr.
Pope
approvingly
.
Mr.
Magnet
said
very
quietly
that
all
true
humour
did
that
.
Then
Mrs.
Pope
asked
what
the
play
was
to
be
about
,
and
Mr.
Magnet
,
who
seemed
disinclined
to
give
an
answer
,
turned
the
subject
by
saying
he
had
to
prepare
an
address
on
humour
for
the
next
dinner
of
the
Literati
.
"
It
's
to
be
a
humourist
's
dinner
,
and
they
've
made
me
the
guest
of
the
evening
—
by
way
of
a
joke
to
begin
with
,
"
he
said
with
that
dry
smile
again
.
Mrs.
Pope
said
he
should
n't
say
things
like
that
.
She
then
said
"
Syd
!
"
quietly
but
sharply
to
Sydney
,
who
was
making
a
disdainful
,
squinting
face
at
Theodore
,
and
told
the
parlourmaid
to
clear
the
plates
for
sweets
.
Mr.
Magnet
professed
great
horror
of
public
speaking
.
He
said
that
whenever
he
rose
to
make
an
after-dinner
speech
all
the
ices
he
had
ever
eaten
seemed
to
come
out
of
the
past
,
and
sit
on
his
backbone
.
The
talk
centered
for
awhile
on
Mr.
Magnet
's
address
,
and
apropos
of
Tests
of
Humour
Mr.
Pope
,
who
in
his
way
was
"
no
mean
raconteur
,
"
related
the
story
of
the
man
who
took
the
salad
dressing
with
his
hand
,
and
when
his
host
asked
why
he
did
that
,
replied
:
"
Oh
!
I
thought
it
was
spinach
!
"
"
Many
people
,
"
added
Mr.
Pope
,
"
would
n't
see
the
point
of
that
.
And
if
they
do
n't
see
the
point
they
ca
n't
—
and
the
more
they
try
the
less
they
do
.
"
All
four
girls
hoped
secretly
and
not
too
confidently
that
their
laughter
had
not
sounded
hollow
.
And
then
for
a
time
the
men
told
stories
as
they
came
into
their
heads
in
an
easy
,
irresponsible
way
.
Mr.
Magnet
spoke
of
the
humour
of
the
omnibus-driver
who
always
dangled
and
twiddled
his
badge
"
by
way
of
a
joke
"
when
he
passed
the
conductor
whose
father
had
been
hanged
,
and
Mr.
Pope
,
perhaps
,
a
little
irrelevantly
,
told
the
story
of
the
little
boy
who
was
asked
his
father
's
last
words
,
and
said
"
mother
was
with
him
to
the
end
,
"
which
particularly
amused
Mrs.
Pope
.
Mr.
Wintersloan
gave
the
story
of
the
woman
who
was
taking
her
son
to
the
hospital
with
his
head
jammed
into
a
saucepan
,
and
explained
to
the
other
people
in
the
omnibus
:
"
You
see
,
what
makes
it
so
annoying
,
it
's
me
only
saucepan
!
"
Then
they
came
back
to
the
Sense
of
Humour
with
the
dentist
who
shouted
with
laughter
,
and
when
asked
the
reason
by
his
patient
,
choked
out
:
"
Wrong
tooth
!
"
and
then
Mr.
Pope
reminded
them
of
the
heartless
husband
who
,
suddenly
informed
that
his
mother-in-law
was
dead
,
exclaimed
"
Oh
,
do
n't
make
me
laugh
,
please
,
I
've
got
a
split
lip
...
.
"
The
conversation
assumed
a
less
anecdotal
quality
with
the
removal
to
the
drawing-room
.
On
Mr.
Magnet
's
initiative
the
gentlemen
followed
the
ladies
almost
immediately
,
and
it
was
Mr.
Magnet
who
remembered
that
Marjorie
could
sing
.
Both
the
elder
sisters
indeed
had
sweet
clear
voices
,
and
they
had
learnt
a
number
of
those
jolly
songs
the
English
made
before
the
dull
Hanoverians
came
.
Syd
accompanied
,
and
Rom
sat
back
in
the
low
chair
in
the
corner
and
fell
deeply
in
love
with
Mr.
Wintersloan
.
The
three
musicians
in
their
green
and
sulphur-yellow
and
white
made
a
pretty
group
in
the
light
of
the
shaded
lamp
against
the
black
and
gold
Broadwood
,
the
tawdry
screen
,
its
pattern
thin
glittering
upon
darkness
,
and
the
deep
shadows
behind
.
Marjorie
loved
singing
,
and
forgot
herself
as
she
sang
.
"
I
love
,
and
he
loves
me
again
,
Yet
dare
I
not
tell
who
;
For
if
the
nymphs
should
know
my
swain
,
I
fear
they
'd
love
him
too
,
"
she
sang
,
and
Mr.
Magnet
could
not
conceal
the
intensity
of
his
admiration
.
Mr.
Pope
had
fallen
into
a
pleasant
musing
;
several
other
ripe
old
yarns
,
dear
delicious
old
things
,
had
come
into
his
mind
that
he
felt
he
might
presently
recall
when
this
unavoidable
display
of
accomplishments
was
overpast
,
and
it
was
with
one
of
them
almost
on
his
lips
that
he
glanced
across
at
his
guest
.
He
was
surprised
to
see
Mr.
Magnet
's
face
transfigured
.
He
was
sitting
forward
,
looking
up
at
Marjorie
,
and
he
had
caught
something
of
the
expression
of
those
blessed
boys
who
froth
at
the
feet
of
an
Assumption
.
For
an
instant
Mr.
Pope
did
not
understand
.
Then
he
understood
.
It
was
Marjorie
!
He
had
a
twinge
of
surprise
,
and
glanced
at
his
own
daughter
as
though
he
had
never
seen
her
before
.
He
perceived
in
a
flash
for
the
first
time
that
this
troublesome
,
clever
,
disrespectful
child
was
tall
and
shapely
and
sweet
,
and
indeed
quite
a
beautiful
young
woman
.
He
forgot
his
anecdotes
.
His
being
was
suffused
with
pride
and
responsibility
and
the
sense
of
virtue
rewarded
.
He
did
not
reflect
for
a
moment
that
Marjorie
embodied
in
almost
equal
proportions
the
very
best
points
in
his
mother
and
his
mother-in-law
,
and
avoided
his
own
more
salient
characteristics
with
so
neat
a
dexterity
that
from
top
to
toe
,
except
for
the
one
matter
of
colour
,
not
only
did
she
not
resemble
him
but
she
scarcely
even
alluded
to
him
.
He
thought
simply
that
she
was
his
daughter
,
that
she
derived
from
him
,
that
her
beauty
was
his
.
She
was
the
outcome
of
his
meritorious
preparations
.
He
recalled
all
the
moments
when
he
had
been
kind
and
indulgent
to
her
,
all
the
bills
he
had
paid
for
her
;
all
the
stresses
and
trials
of
the
coach-building
collapse
,
all
the
fluctuations
of
his
speculative
adventures
,
became
things
he
had
faced
patiently
and
valiantly
for
her
sake
.
He
forgot
the
endless
times
when
he
had
been
viciously
cross
with
her
,
all
the
times
when
he
had
pished
and
tushed
and
sworn
in
her
hearing
.
He
had
on
provocation
and
in
spite
of
her
mother
's
protests
slapped
her
pretty
vigorously
,
but
such
things
are
better
forgotten
;
nor
did
he
recall
how
bitterly
he
had
opposed
the
college
education
which
had
made
her
now
so
clear
in
eye
and
thought
,
nor
the
frightful
shindy
,
only
three
months
since
,
about
that
identical
green
dress
in
which
she
now
stood
delightful
.
He
forgot
these
petty
details
,
as
an
idealist
should
.
There
she
was
,
his
daughter
.
An
immense
benevolence
irradiated
his
soul
—
for
Marjorie
—
for
Magnet
.
His
eyes
were
suffused
with
a
not
ignoble
tenderness
.
The
man
,
he
knew
,
was
worth
at
least
thirty-five
thousand
pounds
,
a
discussion
of
investments
had
made
that
clear
,
and
he
must
be
making
at
least
five
thousand
a
year
!
A
beautiful
girl
,
a
worthy
man
!
A
good
fellow
,
a
sound
good
fellow
,
a
careful
fellow
too
—
as
these
fellows
went
!
Old
Daddy
would
lose
his
treasure
of
course
.
Well
,
a
father
must
learn
resignation
,
and
he
for
one
would
not
stand
in
the
way
of
his
girl
's
happiness
.
A
day
would
come
when
,
very
beautifully
and
tenderly
,
he
would
hand
her
over
to
Magnet
,
his
favourite
daughter
to
his
trusted
friend
.
"
Well
,
my
boy
,
there
's
no
one
in
all
the
world
—
—
"
he
would
begin
.
It
would
be
a
touching
parting
.
"
Do
n't
forget
your
old
father
,
Maggots
,
"
he
would
say
.
At
such
a
moment
that
quaint
nickname
would
surely
not
be
resented
...
.
He
reflected
how
much
he
had
always
preferred
Marjorie
to
Daffy
.
She
was
brighter
—
more
like
him
.
Daffy
was
unresponsive
,
with
a
touch
of
bitterness
under
her
tongue
...
.
He
was
already
dreaming
he
was
a
widower
,
rather
infirm
,
the
object
of
Magnet
's
and
Marjorie
's
devoted
care
,
when
the
song
ceased
,
and
the
wife
he
had
for
the
purpose
of
reveries
just
consigned
so
carelessly
to
the
cemetery
proposed
that
they
should
have
a
little
game
that
every
one
could
play
at
.
A
number
of
pencils
and
slips
of
paper
appeared
in
her
hands
.
She
did
not
want
the
girls
to
exhaust
their
repertory
on
this
first
occasion
—
and
besides
,
Mr.
Pope
liked
games
in
which
one
did
things
with
pencils
and
strips
of
paper
.
Mr.
Magnet
wished
the
singing
to
go
on
,
he
said
,
but
he
was
overruled
.
So
for
a
time
every
one
played
a
little
game
in
which
Mr.
Pope
was
particularly
proficient
.
Indeed
,
it
was
rare
that
any
one
won
but
Mr.
Pope
.
It
was
called
"
The
Great
Departed
,
"
and
it
had
such
considerable
educational
value
that
all
the
children
had
to
play
at
it
whenever
he
wished
.
It
was
played
in
this
manner
;
one
of
the
pseudo
twins
opened
a
book
and
dabbed
a
finger
on
the
page
,
and
read
out
the
letter
immediately
at
the
tip
of
her
finger
,
then
all
of
them
began
to
write
as
hard
as
they
could
,
writing
down
the
names
of
every
great
person
they
could
think
of
,
whose
name
began
with
that
letter
.
At
the
end
of
five
minutes
Mr.
Pope
said
Stop
!
and
then
began
to
read
his
list
out
,
beginning
with
the
first
name
.
Everybody
who
had
that
name
crossed
it
out
and
scored
one
,
and
after
his
list
was
exhausted
all
the
surviving
names
on
the
next
list
were
read
over
in
the
same
way
,
and
so
on
.
The
names
had
to
be
the
names
of
dead
celebrated
people
,
only
one
monarch
of
the
same
name
of
the
same
dynasty
was
allowed
,
and
Mr.
Pope
adjudicated
on
all
doubtful
cases
.
It
was
great
fun
.
The
first
two
games
were
won
as
usual
by
Mr.
Pope
,
and
then
Mr.
Wintersloan
,
who
had
been
a
little
distraught
in
his
manner
,
brightened
up
and
scribbled
furiously
.
The
letter
was
D
,
and
after
Mr.
Pope
had
rehearsed
a
tale
of
nine
and
twenty
names
,
Mr.
Wintersloan
read
out
his
list
in
that
curious
voice
of
his
which
suggested
nothing
so
much
as
some
mobile
drink
glucking
out
of
the
neck
of
a
bottle
held
upside
down
.
"
Dahl
,
"
he
began
.
"
Who
was
Dahl
?
"
asked
Mr.
Pope
.
"
'
Vented
dahlias
,
"
said
Mr.
Wintersloan
,
with
a
sigh
.
"
Danton
.
"
"
Forgot
him
,
"
said
Mr.
Pope
.
"
Davis
.
"
"
Davis
?
"
"
Davis
Straits
.
Doe
.
"
"
Who
?
"
"
John
Doe
,
Richard
Roe
.
"
"
Legal
fiction
,
I
'm
afraid
,
"
said
Mr.
Pope
.
"
Dam
,
"
said
Mr.
Wintersloan
,
and
added
after
a
slight
pause
:
"
Anthony
van
.
"
Mr.
Pope
made
an
interrogative
noise
.
"
Painter
—
eighteenth
century
—
Dutch
.
Dam
,
Jan
van
,
his
son
.
Dam
,
Frederich
van
.
Dam
,
Wilhelm
van
.
Dam
,
Diedrich
van
.
Dam
,
Wilhelmina
,
wood
engraver
,
gifted
woman
.
Diehl
.
"
"
Who
?
"
"
Painter
—
dead
—
famous
.
See
Düsseldorf
.
It
's
all
painters
now
—
all
guaranteed
dead
,
all
good
men
.
Deeds
of
Norfolk
,
the
aquarellist
,
Denton
,
Dibbs
.
"
"
Er
?
"
said
Mr.
Pope
.
"
The
Warwick
Claude
,
you
know
.
Died
1823.
"
"
Dickson
,
Dunting
,
John
Dickery
.
Peter
Dickery
,
William
Dock
—
I
beg
your
pardon
?
"
Mr.
Pope
was
making
a
protesting
gesture
,
but
Mr.
Wintersloan
's
bearing
was
invincible
,
and
he
proceeded
.
In
the
end
he
emerged
triumphant
with
forty-nine
names
,
mostly
painters
for
whose
fame
he
answered
,
but
whose
reputations
were
certainly
new
to
every
one
else
present
.
"
I
can
go
on
like
that
,
"
said
Mr.
Wintersloan
,
"
with
any
letter
,
"
and
turned
that
hard
little
smile
full
on
Marjorie
.
"
I
did
n't
see
how
to
do
it
at
first
.
I
just
cast
about
.
But
I
know
a
frightful
lot
of
painters
.
No
end
.
Shall
we
try
again
?
"
Marjorie
glanced
at
her
father
.
Mr.
Wintersloan
's
methods
were
all
too
evident
to
her
.
A
curious
feeling
pervaded
the
room
that
Mr.
Pope
did
n't
think
Mr.
Wintersloan
's
conduct
honourable
,
and
that
he
might
even
go
some
way
towards
saying
so
.
So
Mrs.
Pope
became
very
brisk
and
stirring
,
and
said
she
thought
that
now
perhaps
a
charade
would
be
more
amusing
.
It
did
n't
do
to
keep
on
at
a
game
too
long
.
She
asked
Rom
and
Daphne
and
Theodore
and
Mr.
Wintersloan
to
go
out
,
and
they
all
agreed
readily
,
particularly
Rom.
"
Come
on
!
"
said
Rom
to
Mr.
Wintersloan
.
Everybody
else
shifted
into
an
audience-like
group
between
the
piano
and
the
what-not
.
Mr.
Magnet
sat
at
Marjorie
's
feet
,
while
Syd
played
a
kind
of
voluntary
,
and
Mr.
Pope
leant
back
in
his
chair
,
with
his
brows
knit
and
lips
moving
,
trying
to
remember
something
.
The
charade
was
very
amusing
.
The
word
was
Catarrh
,
and
Mr.
Wintersloan
,
as
the
patient
in
the
last
act
being
given
gruel
,
surpassed
even
the
children
's
very
high
expectations
.
Rom
,
as
his
nurse
,
could
n't
keep
her
hands
off
him
.
Then
the
younger
people
kissed
round
and
were
packed
off
to
bed
,
and
the
rest
of
the
party
went
to
the
door
upon
the
lawn
and
admired
the
night
.
It
was
a
glorious
summer
night
,
deep
blue
,
and
rimmed
warmly
by
the
afterglow
,
moonless
,
and
with
a
few
big
lamp-like
stars
above
the
black
still
shapes
of
trees
.
Mrs.
Pope
said
they
would
all
accompany
their
guests
to
the
gate
at
the
end
of
the
avenue
—
in
spite
of
the
cockchafers
.
Mr.
Pope
's
ankle
,
however
,
excused
him
;
the
cordiality
of
his
parting
from
Mr.
Wintersloan
seemed
a
trifle
forced
,
and
he
limped
thoughtfully
and
a
little
sombrely
towards
the
study
to
see
if
he
could
find
an
Encyclopædia
or
some
such
book
of
reference
that
would
give
the
names
of
the
lesser
lights
of
Dutch
,
Italian
,
and
English
painting
during
the
last
two
centuries
.
He
felt
that
Mr.
Wintersloan
had
established
an
extraordinarily
bad
precedent
.
Marjorie
discovered
that
she
and
Mr.
Magnet
had
fallen
a
little
behind
the
others
.
She
would
have
quickened
her
pace
,
but
Mr.
Magnet
stopped
short
and
said
:
"
Marjorie
!
"
"
When
I
saw
you
standing
there
and
singing
,
"
said
Mr.
Magnet
,
and
was
short
of
breath
for
a
moment
.
Marjorie
's
natural
gift
for
interruption
failed
her
altogether
.
"
I
felt
I
would
rather
be
able
to
call
you
mine
—
than
win
an
empire
.
"
The
pause
seemed
to
lengthen
,
between
them
,
and
Marjorie
's
remark
when
she
made
it
at
last
struck
her
even
as
she
made
it
as
being
but
poorly
conceived
.
She
had
some
weak
idea
of
being
self-depreciatory
.
"
I
think
you
had
better
win
an
empire
,
Mr.
Magnet
,
"
she
said
meekly
.
Then
,
before
anything
more
was
possible
,
they
had
come
up
to
Daffy
and
Mr.
Wintersloan
and
her
mother
at
the
gate
...
.
As
they
returned
Mrs.
Pope
was
loud
in
the
praises
of
Will
Magnet
.
She
had
a
little
clear-cut
voice
,
very
carefully
and
very
skilfully
controlled
,
and
she
dilated
on
his
modesty
,
his
quiet
helpfulness
at
table
,
his
ready
presence
of
mind
.
She
pointed
out
instances
of
those
admirable
traits
,
incidents
small
in
themselves
but
charming
in
their
implications
.
When
somebody
wanted
junket
,
he
had
made
no
fuss
,
he
had
just
helped
them
to
junket
.
"
So
modest
and
unassuming
,
"
sang
Mrs.
Pope
.
"
You
'd
never
dream
he
was
quite
rich
and
famous
.
Yet
every
book
he
writes
is
translated
into
Russian
and
German
and
all
sorts
of
languages
.
I
suppose
he
's
almost
the
greatest
humorist
we
have
.
That
play
of
his
;
what
is
it
called
?
—
Our
Owd
Woman
—
has
been
performed
nearly
twelve
hundred
times
!
I
think
that
is
the
most
wonderful
of
gifts
.
Think
of
the
people
it
has
made
happy
.
"
The
conversation
was
mainly
monologue
.
Both
Marjorie
and
Daffy
were
unusually
thoughtful
.
Marjorie
ended
the
long
day
in
a
worldly
mood
.
"
Penny
for
your
thoughts
,
"
said
Daffy
abruptly
,
brushing
the
long
firelit
rapids
of
her
hair
.
"
Not
for
sale
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
and
roused
herself
.
"
I
've
had
a
long
day
.
"
"
It
's
always
just
the
time
I
particularly
wish
I
was
a
man
,
"
she
remarked
after
a
brief
return
to
meditation
.
"
Fancy
,
no
hair-pins
,
no
brushing
,
no
tie-up
to
get
lost
about
,
no
strings
.
I
suppose
they
have
n't
strings
?
"
"
They
have
n't
,
"
said
Daffy
with
conviction
.
She
met
Marjorie
's
interrogative
eye
.
"
Father
would
swear
at
them
,
"
she
explained
.
"
He
'd
naturally
tie
himself
up
—
and
we
should
hear
of
it
.
"
"
I
did
n't
think
of
that
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
and
stuck
out
her
chin
upon
her
fists
.
"
Sound
induction
.
"
She
forgot
this
transitory
curiosity
.
"
Suppose
one
had
a
maid
,
Daffy
—
a
real
maid
...
a
maid
who
mended
your
things
...
did
your
hair
while
you
read
...
.
"
"
Oh
!
here
goes
,
"
and
she
stood
up
and
grappled
with
the
task
of
undressing
.
CHAPTER
THE
SECOND
The
Two
Proposals
of
Mr.
Magnet
It
was
presently
quite
evident
to
Marjorie
that
Mr.
Magnet
intended
to
propose
marriage
to
her
,
and
she
did
not
even
know
whether
she
wanted
him
to
do
so
.
She
had
met
him
first
the
previous
summer
while
she
had
been
staying
with
the
Petley-Cresthams
at
High
Windower
,
and
it
had
been
evident
that
he
found
her
extremely
attractive
.
She
had
never
had
a
real
grown
man
at
her
feet
before
,
and
she
had
found
it
amazingly
entertaining
.
She
had
gone
for
a
walk
with
him
the
morning
before
she
came
away
—
a
frank
and
ingenuous
proceeding
that
made
Mrs.
Petley-Crestham
say
the
girl
knew
what
she
was
about
,
and
she
had
certainly
coquetted
with
him
in
an
extraordinary
manner
at
golf-croquet
.
After
that
Oxbridge
had
swallowed
her
up
,
and
though
he
had
called
once
on
her
mother
while
Marjorie
was
in
London
during
the
Christmas
vacation
,
he
had
n't
seen
her
again
.
He
had
written
—
which
was
exciting
—
a
long
friendly
humorous
letter
about
nothing
in
particular
,
with
an
air
of
its
being
quite
the
correct
thing
for
him
to
do
,
and
she
had
answered
,
and
there
had
been
other
exchanges
.
But
all
sorts
of
things
had
happened
in
the
interval
,
and
Marjorie
had
let
him
get
into
quite
a
back
place
in
her
thoughts
—
the
fact
that
he
was
a
member
of
her
father
's
club
had
seemed
somehow
to
remove
him
from
a
great
range
of
possibilities
—
until
a
drift
in
her
mother
's
talk
towards
him
and
a
letter
from
him
with
an
indefinable
change
in
tone
towards
intimacy
,
had
restored
him
to
importance
.
Now
here
he
was
in
the
foreground
of
her
world
again
,
evidently
more
ardent
than
ever
,
and
with
a
portentous
air
of
being
about
to
do
something
decisive
at
the
very
first
opportunity
.
What
was
he
going
to
do
?
What
had
her
mother
been
hinting
at
?
And
what
,
in
fact
,
did
the
whole
thing
amount
to
?
Marjorie
was
beginning
to
realize
that
this
was
going
to
be
a
very
serious
affair
indeed
for
her
—
and
that
she
was
totally
unprepared
to
meet
it
.
It
had
been
very
amusing
,
very
amusing
indeed
,
at
the
Petley-Cresthams
'
,
but
there
were
moments
now
when
she
felt
towards
Mr.
Magnet
exactly
as
she
would
have
felt
if
he
had
been
one
of
the
Oxbridge
tradesmen
hovering
about
her
with
a
"
little
account
,
"
full
of
apparently
exaggerated
items
...
.
Her
thoughts
and
feelings
were
all
in
confusion
about
this
business
.
Her
mind
was
full
of
scraps
,
every
sort
of
idea
,
every
sort
of
attitude
contributed
something
to
that
Twentieth
Century
jumble
.
For
example
,
and
so
far
as
its
value
went
among
motives
,
it
was
by
no
means
a
trivial
consideration
;
she
wanted
a
proposal
for
its
own
sake
.
Daffy
had
had
a
proposal
last
year
,
and
although
it
was
n't
any
sort
of
eligible
proposal
,
still
there
it
was
,
and
she
had
given
herself
tremendous
airs
.
But
Marjorie
would
certainly
have
preferred
some
lighter
kind
of
proposal
than
that
which
now
threatened
her
.
She
felt
that
behind
Mr.
Magnet
were
sanctions
;
that
she
was
n't
free
to
deal
with
this
proposal
as
she
liked
.
He
was
at
Buryhamstreet
almost
with
the
air
of
being
her
parents
'
guest
.
Less
clear
and
more
instinctive
than
her
desire
for
a
proposal
was
her
inclination
to
see
just
all
that
Mr.
Magnet
was
disposed
to
do
,
and
hear
all
that
he
was
disposed
to
say
.
She
was
curious
.
He
did
n't
behave
in
the
least
as
she
had
expected
a
lover
to
behave
.
But
then
none
of
the
boys
,
the
"
others
"
with
whom
she
had
at
times
stretched
a
hand
towards
the
hem
of
emotion
,
had
ever
done
that
.
She
had
an
obscure
feeling
that
perhaps
presently
Mr.
Magnet
must
light
up
,
be
stirred
and
stirring
.
Even
now
his
voice
changed
very
interestingly
when
he
was
alone
with
her
.
His
breath
seemed
to
go
—
as
though
something
had
pricked
his
lung
.
If
it
had
n't
been
for
that
new
,
disconcerting
realization
of
an
official
pressure
behind
him
,
I
think
she
would
have
been
quite
ready
to
experiment
extensively
with
his
emotions
...
.
But
she
perceived
as
she
lay
awake
next
morning
that
she
was
n't
free
for
experiments
any
longer
.
What
she
might
say
or
do
now
would
be
taken
up
very
conclusively
.
And
she
had
no
idea
what
she
wanted
to
say
or
do
.
Marriage
regarded
in
the
abstract
—
that
is
to
say
,
with
Mr.
Magnet
out
of
focus
—
was
by
no
means
an
unattractive
proposal
to
her
.
It
was
very
much
at
the
back
of
Marjorie
's
mind
that
after
Oxbridge
,
unless
she
was
prepared
to
face
a
very
serious
row
indeed
and
go
to
teach
in
a
school
—
and
she
did
n't
feel
any
call
whatever
to
teach
in
a
school
—
she
would
probably
have
to
return
to
Hartstone
Square
and
share
Daffy
's
room
again
,
and
assist
in
the
old
collective
,
wearisome
task
of
propitiating
her
father
.
The
freedoms
of
Oxbridge
had
enlarged
her
imagination
until
that
seemed
an
almost
unendurably
irksome
prospect
.
She
had
tasted
life
as
it
could
be
in
her
father
's
absence
,
and
she
was
beginning
to
realize
just
what
an
impossible
person
he
was
.
Marriage
was
escape
from
all
that
;
it
meant
not
only
respectful
parents
but
a
house
of
her
very
own
,
furniture
of
her
choice
,
great
freedom
of
movement
,
an
authority
,
an
importance
.
She
had
seen
what
it
meant
to
be
a
prosperously
married
young
woman
in
the
person
of
one
or
two
resplendent
old
girls
revisiting
Bennett
College
,
scattering
invitations
,
offering
protections
and
opportunities
...
.
Of
course
there
is
love
.
Marjorie
told
herself
,
as
she
had
been
trained
to
tell
herself
,
to
be
sensible
,
but
something
within
her
repeated
:
there
is
love
.
Of
course
she
liked
Mr.
Magnet
.
She
really
did
like
Mr.
Magnet
very
much
.
She
had
had
her
girlish
dreams
,
had
fallen
in
love
with
pictures
of
men
and
actors
and
a
music
master
and
a
man
who
used
to
ride
by
as
she
went
to
school
;
but
was
n't
this
desolating
desire
for
self-abandonment
rather
silly
?
—
something
that
one
left
behind
with
much
else
when
it
came
to
putting
up
one
's
hair
and
sensible
living
,
something
to
blush
secretly
about
and
hide
from
every
eye
?
Among
other
discrepant
views
that
lived
together
in
her
mind
as
cats
and
rats
and
parrots
and
squirrels
and
so
forth
used
to
live
together
in
those
Happy
Family
cages
unseemly
men
in
less
well-regulated
days
were
wont
to
steer
about
our
streets
,
was
one
instilled
by
quite
a
large
proportion
of
the
novels
she
had
read
,
that
a
girl
was
a
sort
of
self-giving
prize
for
high
moral
worth
.
Mr.
Magnet
she
knew
was
good
,
was
kind
,
was
brave
with
that
truer
courage
,
moral
courage
,
which
goes
with
his
type
of
physique
;
he
was
modest
,
unassuming
,
well
off
and
famous
,
and
very
much
in
love
with
her
.
His
True
Self
,
as
Mrs.
Pope
had
pointed
out
several
times
,
must
be
really
very
beautiful
,
and
in
some
odd
way
a
line
of
Shakespeare
had
washed
up
in
her
consciousness
as
being
somehow
effectual
on
his
behalf
:
"
Love
looks
not
with
the
eye
but
with
the
mind
.
"
She
felt
she
ought
to
look
with
the
mind
.
Nice
people
surely
never
looked
in
any
other
way
.
It
seemed
from
this
angle
almost
her
duty
to
love
him
...
.
Perhaps
she
did
love
him
,
and
mistook
the
symptoms
.
She
did
her
best
to
mistake
the
symptoms
.
But
if
she
did
truly
love
him
,
would
it
seem
so
queer
and
important
and
antagonistic
as
it
did
that
his
hair
was
rather
thin
upon
the
crown
of
his
head
?
She
wished
she
had
n't
looked
down
on
him
...
.
Poor
Marjorie
!
She
was
doing
her
best
to
be
sensible
,
and
she
felt
herself
adrift
above
a
clamorous
abyss
of
feared
and
forbidden
thoughts
.
Down
there
she
knew
well
enough
it
was
n't
thus
that
love
must
come
.
Deep
in
her
soul
,
the
richest
thing
in
her
life
indeed
and
the
best
thing
she
had
to
give
humanity
,
was
a
craving
for
beauty
that
at
times
became
almost
intolerable
,
a
craving
for
something
other
than
beauty
and
yet
inseparably
allied
with
it
,
a
craving
for
deep
excitement
,
for
a
sort
of
glory
in
adventure
,
for
passion
—
for
things
akin
to
great
music
and
heroic
poems
and
bannered
traditions
of
romance
.
She
had
hidden
away
in
her
an
immense
tumultuous
appetite
for
life
,
an
immense
tumultuous
capacity
for
living
.
To
be
loved
beautifully
was
surely
the
crown
and
climax
of
her
being
.
She
did
not
dare
to
listen
to
these
deeps
,
yet
these
insurgent
voices
filled
her
.
Even
while
she
drove
her
little
crocodile
of
primly
sensible
thoughts
to
their
sane
appointed
conclusion
,
her
blood
and
nerves
and
all
her
being
were
protesting
that
Mr.
Magnet
would
not
do
,
that
whatever
other
worthiness
was
in
him
,
regarded
as
a
lover
he
was
preposterous
and
flat
and
foolish
and
middle-aged
,
and
that
it
were
better
never
to
have
lived
than
to
put
the
treasure
of
her
life
to
his
meagre
lips
and
into
his
hungry
,
unattractive
arms
.
"
The
ugliness
of
it
!
The
spiritless
horror
of
it
!
"
so
dumbly
and
formlessly
the
rebel
voices
urged
.
"
One
has
to
be
sensible
,
"
said
Marjorie
to
herself
,
suddenly
putting
down
Shaw
's
book
on
Municipal
Trading
,
which
she
imagined
she
had
been
reading
...
.
(
Perhaps
all
marriage
was
horrid
,
and
one
had
to
get
over
it
.
)
That
was
rather
what
her
mother
had
conveyed
to
her
.
Mr.
Magnet
made
his
first
proposal
in
form
three
days
later
,
after
coming
twice
to
tea
and
staying
on
to
supper
.
He
had
played
croquet
with
Mr.
Pope
,
he
had
been
beaten
twelve
times
in
spite
of
twinges
in
the
sprained
ankle
—
heroically
borne
—
had
had
three
victories
lucidly
explained
away
,
and
heard
all
the
particulars
of
the
East
Purblow
experiment
three
times
over
,
first
in
relation
to
the
new
Labour
Exchanges
,
then
regarded
at
rather
a
different
angle
in
relation
to
female
betting
,
tally-men
,
and
the
sanctities
of
the
home
generally
,
and
finally
in
a
more
exhaustive
style
,
to
show
its
full
importance
from
every
side
and
more
particularly
as
demonstrating
the
gross
injustice
done
to
Mr.
Pope
by
the
neglect
of
its
lessons
,
a
neglect
too
systematic
to
be
accidental
,
in
the
social
reform
literature
of
the
time
.
Moreover
,
Mr.
Magnet
had
been
made
to
understand
thoroughly
how
several
later
quasi-charitable
attempts
of
a
similar
character
had
already
become
,
or
must
inevitably
become
,
unsatisfactory
through
their
failure
to
follow
exactly
in
the
lines
laid
down
by
Mr.
Pope
.
Mr.
Pope
was
really
very
anxious
to
be
pleasant
and
agreeable
to
Mr.
Magnet
,
and
he
could
think
of
no
surer
way
of
doing
so
than
by
giving
him
an
unrestrained
intimacy
of
conversation
that
prevented
anything
more
than
momentary
intercourse
between
his
daughter
and
her
admirer
.
And
not
only
did
Mr.
Magnet
find
it
difficult
to
get
away
from
Mr.
Pope
without
offence
,
but
whenever
by
any
chance
Mr.
Pope
was
detached
for
a
moment
Mr.
Magnet
discovered
that
Marjorie
either
was
n't
to
be
seen
,
or
if
she
was
she
was
n't
to
be
isolated
by
any
device
he
could
contrive
,
before
the
unappeasable
return
of
Mr.
Pope
.
Mr.
Magnet
did
not
get
his
chance
therefore
until
Lady
Petchworth
's
little
gathering
at
Summerhay
Park
.
Lady
Petchworth
was
Mrs.
Pope
's
oldest
friend
,
and
one
of
those
brighter
influences
which
save
our
English
country-side
from
lassitude
.
She
had
been
more
fortunate
than
Mrs.
Pope
,
for
while
Mr.
Pope
with
that
aptitude
for
disadvantage
natural
to
his
temperament
had
,
he
said
,
been
tied
to
a
business
that
never
gave
him
a
chance
,
Lady
Petchworth
's
husband
had
been
a
reckless
investor
of
exceptional
good-luck
.
In
particular
,
led
by
a
dream
,
he
had
put
most
of
his
money
into
a
series
of
nitrate
deposits
in
caves
in
Saghalien
haunted
by
benevolent
penguins
,
and
had
been
rewarded
beyond
the
dreams
of
avarice
.
His
foresight
had
received
the
fitting
reward
of
a
knighthood
,
and
Sir
Thomas
,
after
restoring
the
Parish
Church
at
Summerhay
in
a
costly
and
destructive
manner
,
spent
his
declining
years
in
an
enviable
contentment
with
Lady
Petchworth
and
the
world
at
large
,
and
died
long
before
infirmity
made
him
really
troublesome
.
Good
fortune
had
brought
out
Lady
Petchworth
's
social
aptitudes
.
Summerhay
Park
was
everything
that
a
clever
woman
,
inspired
by
that
gardening
literature
which
has
been
so
abundant
in
the
opening
years
of
the
twentieth
century
,
could
make
it
.
It
had
rosaries
and
rock
gardens
,
sundials
and
yew
hedges
,
pools
and
ponds
,
lead
figures
and
stone
urns
,
box
borderings
and
wilderness
corners
and
hundreds
and
hundreds
of
feet
of
prematurely-aged
red-brick
wall
with
broad
herbaceous
borders
;
the
walks
had
primroses
,
primulas
and
cowslips
in
a
quite
disingenuous
abundance
,
and
in
spring
the
whole
extent
of
the
park
was
gay
,
here
with
thousands
of
this
sort
of
daffodil
just
bursting
out
and
here
with
thousands
of
that
sort
of
narcissus
just
past
its
prime
,
and
every
patch
ready
to
pass
itself
off
in
its
naturalized
way
as
the
accidental
native
flower
of
the
field
,
if
only
it
had
n't
been
for
all
the
other
different
varieties
coming
on
or
wilting-off
in
adjacent
patches
...
.
Her
garden
was
only
the
beginning
of
Lady
Petchworth
's
activities
.
She
had
a
model
dairy
,
and
all
her
poultry
was
white
,
and
so
far
as
she
was
able
to
manage
it
she
made
Summerhay
a
model
village
.
She
overflowed
with
activities
,
it
was
astonishing
in
one
so
plump
and
blonde
,
and
meeting
followed
meeting
in
the
artistic
little
red-brick
and
green-stained
timber
village
hall
she
had
erected
.
Now
it
was
the
National
Theatre
and
now
it
was
the
National
Mourning
;
now
it
was
the
Break
Up
of
the
Poor
Law
,
and
now
the
Majority
Report
,
now
the
Mothers
'
Union
,
and
now
Socialism
,
and
now
Individualism
,
but
always
something
progressive
and
beneficial
.
She
did
her
best
to
revive
the
old
village
life
,
and
brought
her
very
considerable
powers
of
compulsion
to
make
the
men
dance
in
simple
old
Morris
dances
,
dressed
up
in
costumes
they
secretly
abominated
,
and
to
induce
the
mothers
to
dress
their
children
in
art-coloured
smocks
instead
of
the
prints
and
blue
serge
frocks
they
preferred
.
She
did
not
despair
,
she
said
,
of
creating
a
spontaneous
peasant
art
movement
in
the
district
,
springing
from
the
people
and
expressing
the
people
,
but
so
far
it
had
been
necessary
to
import
not
only
instructors
and
material
,
but
workers
to
keep
the
thing
going
,
so
sluggish
had
the
spontaneity
of
our
English
countryside
become
.
Her
little
gatherings
were
quite
distinctive
of
her
.
They
were
a
sort
of
garden
party
extending
from
mid-day
to
six
or
seven
;
there
would
be
a
nucleus
of
house
guests
,
and
the
highways
and
byeways
on
every
hand
would
be
raided
to
supply
persons
and
interests
.
She
had
told
her
friend
to
"
bring
the
girls
over
for
the
day
,
"
and
flung
an
invitation
to
Mr.
Pope
,
who
had
at
once
excused
himself
on
the
score
of
his
ankle
.
Mr.
Pope
was
one
of
those
men
who
shun
social
gatherings
—
ostensibly
because
of
a
sterling
simplicity
of
taste
,
but
really
because
his
intolerable
egotism
made
him
feel
slighted
and
neglected
on
these
occasions
.
He
told
his
wife
he
would
be
far
happier
with
a
book
at
home
,
exhorted
her
not
to
be
late
,
and
was
seen
composing
himself
to
read
the
"
Vicar
of
Wakefield
"
—
whenever
they
published
a
new
book
Mr.
Pope
pretended
to
read
an
old
one
—
as
the
hired
waggonette
took
the
rest
of
his
family
—
Theodore
very
unhappy
in
buff
silk
and
a
wide
Stuart
collar
—
down
the
avenue
.
They
found
a
long
lunch
table
laid
on
the
lawn
beneath
the
chestnuts
,
and
in
full
view
of
the
poppies
and
forget-me-nots
around
the
stone
obelisk
,
a
butler
and
three
men
servants
with
brass
buttons
and
red
and
white
striped
waistcoats
gave
dignity
to
the
scene
,
and
beyond
,
on
the
terrace
amidst
abundance
of
deckchairs
,
cane
chairs
,
rugs
,
and
cushions
,
a
miscellaneous
and
increasing
company
seethed
under
Lady
Petchworth
's
plump
but
entertaining
hand
.
There
were
,
of
course
,
Mr.
Magnet
,
and
his
friend
Mr.
Wintersloan
—
Lady
Petchworth
had
been
given
to
understand
how
the
land
lay
;
and
there
was
Mr.
Bunford
Paradise
the
musician
,
who
was
doing
his
best
to
teach
a
sullen
holiday
class
in
the
village
schoolroom
to
sing
the
artless
old
folk
songs
of
Surrey
again
,
in
spite
of
the
invincible
persuasion
of
everybody
in
the
class
that
the
songs
were
rather
indelicate
and
extremely
silly
;
there
were
the
Rev.
Jopling
Baynes
,
and
two
Cambridge
undergraduates
in
flannels
,
and
a
Doctor
something
or
other
from
London
.
There
was
also
the
Hon.
Charles
Muskett
,
Lord
Pottinger
's
cousin
and
estate
agent
,
in
tweeds
and
very
helpful
.
The
ladies
included
Mrs.
Raff
,
the
well-known
fashion
writer
,
in
a
wonderful
costume
,
the
anonymous
doctor
's
wife
,
three
or
four
neighbouring
mothers
with
an
undistinguished
daughter
or
so
,
and
two
quiet-mannered
middle-aged
ladies
,
whose
names
Marjorie
could
not
catch
,
and
whom
Lady
Petchworth
,
in
that
well-controlled
voice
of
hers
,
addressed
as
Kate
and
Julia
,
and
seemed
on
the
whole
disposed
to
treat
as
humorous
.
There
was
also
Fraulein
Schmidt
in
charge
of
Lady
Petchworth
's
three
tall
and
already
abundant
children
,
Prunella
,
Prudence
,
and
Mary
,
and
a
young
,
newly-married
couple
of
cousins
,
who
addressed
each
other
in
soft
undertones
and
sat
apart
.
These
were
the
chief
items
that
became
distinctive
in
Marjorie
's
survey
;
but
there
were
a
number
of
other
people
who
seemed
to
come
and
go
,
split
up
,
fuse
,
change
their
appearance
slightly
,
and
behave
in
the
way
inadequately
apprehended
people
do
behave
on
these
occasions
.
Marjorie
very
speedily
found
her
disposition
to
take
a
detached
and
amused
view
of
the
entertainment
in
conflict
with
more
urgent
demands
.
From
the
outset
Mr.
Magnet
loomed
upon
her
—
he
loomed
nearer
and
nearer
.
He
turned
his
eye
upon
her
as
she
came
up
to
the
wealthy
expanse
of
Lady
Petchworth
's
presence
,
like
some
sort
of
obsolescent
iron-clad
turning
a
dull-grey
,
respectful
,
loving
searchlight
upon
a
fugitive
torpedo
boat
,
and
thereafter
he
seemed
to
her
to
be
looking
at
her
without
intermission
,
relentlessly
,
and
urging
himself
towards
her
.
She
wished
he
would
n't
.
She
had
n't
at
all
thought
he
would
on
this
occasion
.
At
first
she
relied
upon
her
natural
powers
of
evasion
,
and
the
presence
of
a
large
company
.
Then
gradually
it
became
apparent
that
Lady
Petchworth
and
her
mother
,
yes
—
and
the
party
generally
,
and
the
gardens
and
the
weather
and
the
stars
in
their
courses
were
of
a
mind
to
co-operate
in
giving
opportunity
for
Mr.
Magnet
's
unmistakable
intentions
.
And
Marjorie
with
that
instability
of
her
sex
which
has
been
a
theme
for
masculine
humour
in
all
ages
,
suddenly
and
with
an
extraordinary
violence
did
n't
want
to
make
up
her
mind
about
Mr.
Magnet
.
She
did
n't
want
to
accept
him
;
and
as
distinctly
she
did
n't
want
to
refuse
him
.
She
did
n't
even
want
to
be
thought
about
as
making
up
her
mind
about
him
—
which
was
,
so
to
speak
,
an
enlargement
of
her
previous
indisposition
.
She
did
n't
even
want
to
seem
to
avoid
him
,
or
to
be
thinking
about
him
,
or
aware
of
his
existence
.
After
the
greeting
of
Lady
Petchworth
she
had
succeeded
very
clumsily
in
not
seeing
Mr.
Magnet
,
and
had
addressed
herself
to
Mr.
Wintersloan
,
who
was
standing
a
little
apart
,
looking
under
his
hand
,
with
one
eye
shut
,
at
the
view
between
the
tree
stems
towards
Buryhamstreet
.
He
told
her
that
he
thought
he
had
found
something
"
pooty
"
that
had
n't
been
done
,
and
she
did
her
best
to
share
his
artistic
interests
with
a
vivid
sense
of
Mr.
Magnet
's
tentative
incessant
approach
behind
her
.
He
joined
them
,
and
she
made
a
desperate
attempt
to
entangle
Mr.
Wintersloan
in
a
three-cornered
talk
in
vain
.
He
turned
away
at
the
first
possible
opportunity
,
and
left
her
to
an
embarrassed
and
eloquently
silent
tête-à-tête
.
Mr.
Magnet
's
professional
wit
had
deserted
him
.
"
It
's
nice
to
see
you
again
,
"
he
said
after
an
immense
interval
.
"
Shall
we
go
and
look
at
the
aviary
?
"
"
I
hate
to
see
birds
in
cages
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
"
and
it
's
frightfully
jolly
just
here
.
Do
you
think
Mr.
Wintersloan
will
paint
this
?
He
does
paint
,
does
n't
he
?
"
"
I
know
him
best
in
black
and
white
,
"
said
Mr.
Magnet
.
Marjorie
embarked
on
entirely
insincere
praises
of
Mr.
Wintersloan
's
manner
and
personal
effect
;
Magnet
replied
tepidly
,
with
an
air
of
reserving
himself
to
grapple
with
the
first
conversational
opportunity
.
"
It
's
a
splendid
day
for
tennis
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
I
think
I
shall
play
tennis
all
the
afternoon
.
"
"
I
do
n't
play
well
enough
for
this
publicity
.
"
"
It
's
glorious
exercise
,
"
said
Marjorie
.
"
Almost
as
good
as
dancing
,
"
and
she
decided
to
stick
to
that
resolution
.
"
I
never
lose
a
chance
of
tennis
if
I
can
help
it
.
"
She
glanced
round
and
detected
a
widening
space
between
themselves
and
the
next
adjacent
group
.
"
They
're
looking
at
the
goldfish
,
"
she
said
.
"
Let
us
join
them
.
"
Everyone
moved
away
as
they
came
up
to
the
little
round
pond
,
but
then
Marjorie
had
luck
,
and
captured
Prunella
,
and
got
her
to
hold
hands
and
talk
,
until
Fraulein
Schmidt
called
the
child
away
.
And
then
Marjorie
forced
Mr.
Magnet
to
introduce
her
to
Mr.
Bunford
Paradise
.
She
had
a
bright
idea
of
sitting
between
Prunella
and
Mary
at
the
lunch
table
,
but
a
higher
providence
had
assigned
her
to
a
seat
at
the
end
between
Julia
—
or
was
it
Kate
?
—
and
Mr.
Magnet
.
However
,
one
of
the
undergraduates
was
opposite
,
and
she
saved
herself
from
undertones
by
talking
across
to
him
boldly
about
Newnham
,
though
she
had
n't
an
idea
of
his
name
or
college
.
From
that
she
came
to
tennis
.
To
her
inflamed
imagination
he
behaved
as
if
she
was
under
a
Taboo
,
but
she
was
desperate
,
and
had
pledged
him
and
his
friend
to
a
foursome
before
the
meal
was
over
.
"
Do
n't
you
play
?
"
said
the
undergraduate
to
Mr.
Magnet
.
"
Very
little
,
"
said
Mr.
Magnet
.
"
Very
little
—
"
At
the
end
of
an
hour
she
was
conspicuously
and
publicly
shepherded
from
the
tennis
court
by
Mrs.
Pope
.
"
Other
people
want
to
play
,
"
said
her
mother
in
a
clear
little
undertone
.
Mr.
Magnet
fielded
her
neatly
as
she
came
off
the
court
.
"
You
play
tennis
like
—
a
wild
bird
,
"
he
said
,
taking
possession
of
her
.
Only
Marjorie
's
entire
freedom
from
Irish
blood
saved
him
from
a
vindictive
repartee
.
"
Shall
we
go
and
look
at
the
aviary
?
"
said
Mr.
Magnet
,
reverting
to
a
favourite
idea
of
his
,
and
then
remembered
she
did
not
like
to
see
caged
birds
.
"
Perhaps
we
might
see
the
Water
Garden
?
"
he
said
.
"
The
Water
Garden
is
really
very
delightful
indeed
—
anyhow
.
You
ought
to
see
that
.
"
On
the
spur
of
the
moment
,
Marjorie
could
think
of
no
objection
to
the
Water
Garden
,
and
he
led
her
off
.
"
I
often
think
of
that
jolly
walk
we
had
last
summer
,
"
said
Mr.
Magnet
,
"
and
how
you
talked
about
your
work
at
Oxbridge
.
"
Marjorie
fell
into
a
sudden
rapture
of
admiration
for
a
butterfly
.
Twice
more
was
Mr.
Magnet
baffled
,
and
then
they
came
to
the
little
pool
of
water
lilies
with
its
miniature
cascade
of
escape
at
the
head
and
source
of
the
Water
Garden
.
"
One
of
Lady
Petchworth
's
great
successes
,
"
said
Mr.
Magnet
.
"
I
suppose
the
lotus
is
like
the
water-lily
,
"
said
Marjorie
,
with
no
hope
of
staving
off
the
inevitable
—
—
She
stood
very
still
by
the
little
pool
,
and
in
spite
of
her
pensive
regard
of
the
floating
blossoms
,
stiffly
and
intensely
aware
of
his
relentless
regard
.
"
Marjorie
,
"
came
his
voice
at
last
,
strangely
softened
.
"
There
is
something
I
want
to
say
to
you
.
"
She
made
no
reply
.
"
Ever
since
we
met
last
summer
—
—
"
A
clear
cold
little
resolution
not
to
stand
this
,
had
established
itself
in
Marjorie
's
mind
.
If
she
must
decide
,
she
would
decide
.
He
had
brought
it
upon
himself
.
"
Marjorie
,
"
said
Mr.
Magnet
,
"
I
love
you
.
"
She
lifted
a
clear
unhesitating
eye
to
his
face
.
"
I
'm
sorry
,
Mr.
Magnet
,
"
she
said
.
"
I
wanted
to
ask
you
to
marry
me
,
"
he
said
.
"
I
'm
sorry
,
Mr.
Magnet
,
"
she
repeated
.
They
looked
at
one
another
.
She
felt
a
sort
of
scared
exultation
at
having
done
it
;
her
mother
might
say
what
she
liked
.
"
I
love
you
very
much
,
"
he
said
,
at
a
loss
.
"
I
'm
sorry
,
"
she
repeated
obstinately
.
"
I
thought
you
cared
for
me
a
little
.
"
She
left
that
unanswered
.
She
had
a
curious
feeling
that
there
was
no
getting
away
from
this
splashing
,
babbling
pool
,
that
she
was
fixed
there
until
Mr.
Magnet
chose
to
release
her
,
and
that
he
did
n't
mean
to
release
her
yet
.
In
which
case
she
would
go
on
refusing
.
"
I
'm
disappointed
,
"
he
said
.
Marjorie
could
only
think
that
she
was
sorry
again
,
but
as
she
had
already
said
that
three
times
,
she
remained
awkwardly
silent
.
"
Is
it
because
—
—
"
he
began
and
stopped
.
"
It
is
n't
because
of
anything
.
Please
let
's
go
back
to
