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diff --git a/38171.txt b/38171.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b37c239 --- /dev/null +++ b/38171.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8667 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Imprudence, by F.E. Mills Young + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Imprudence + +Author: F.E. Mills Young + +Release Date: November 29, 2011 [EBook #38171] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IMPRUDENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Imprudence +By F.E. Mills Young +Published by Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, London. +This edition dated 1920. + +Imprudence, by F.E. Mills Young. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +IMPRUDENCE, BY F.E. MILLS YOUNG. + +CHAPTER ONE. + +"Now came still evening on." The fading light, warm and faintly glowing +from the last rays of the May sun, lay with a lingering mellowness upon +the fields, upon the light green of leafing trees, upon a white froth of +late blackthorn blossoming in the hedges, upon the straggling township +nestling in the hollow, and upon the tall red-brick chimneys dominating +Wortheton--dominating the souls sheltering beneath the clustering +roofs--dominating and subjugating brain and mind and body by the might +of their crushing omnipotence, by the strength of wealth and industry +and established order--gaunt chimneys, rising out of the green mist of +the trees, grotesque, symbolic landmarks--index fingers witnessing in +obelisk-like ugliness to the power and importance of successful +commercial enterprise, to the dignity of capital and the drab necessity +of labour, to, in short, the disproportionate values in most existing +things. + +In the evening light, between the lengthening shadows flung by the +hedges along the dusty road that leads to Wortheton, a girl walked +listlessly, a girl whose youth was marred by a look of world-weary +wisdom, as much at variance with the young face as the tall brick +chimneys with the harmonious beauty of the landscape. But for that +look, and the sullen expression in the brown eyes, the girl would have +been beautiful, as the scene was beautiful, and the soft primrose light +upon the uplands; but the buoyant elasticity, the hope, and the +freshness of youth, these were lacking; there remained only the pitiful +fact that in years the girl was in the springtime of life and in +experience more matured. + +As she walked, her sullen gaze shifted furtively from the township below +to the fair open country, growing momentarily dimmer and greyer as the +light in the sky paled. A gap in the hedge revealed a narrow path +between giant elms, and a cool shadowed coppice where the bracken fronds +rose stiff and closely curled, and dark ivy twined thickly about the +tree trunks. The girl turned aside into the coppice and, with the +fugitive instinct of hiding from the light, penetrated its shaded +depths, and paused and leaned her arms against the gnarled trunk of a +sheltering beech tree, and rested her head upon her arms in dry-eyed +tragic sorrow. + +In a fork of the leafy branches overhead a bird had its nest, sitting in +brooding satisfaction upon its delicate speckled eggs. The intrusion +startled it from slumber: the round eyes betrayed a suspicious +uneasiness, and the soft warm body nestled closer over the eggs it +protected. Quaint thing of feathers and bright-eyed watchfulness and +maternal instinct, with no sense of anything beyond the supreme +importance of hatching those little speckled eggs--drawing its +unconscious comparison by the pride of elemental right to the +disproportion in values in this as in other matters, happy in its +prospective motherhood, peering timorously through the green tracery +sheltering it, home at the unhappy prospective human mothers with +resentful eyes lifted curiously to observe its brooding content. + +So still the girl remained, gazing upward into the deepening shadows +that the little feathered mother lost her fear; the sharp anxiety faded +from the round bright eyes, which never relaxed their unwavering +vigilance even when the shadows, gathering closer, enveloped the still +figure of the girl and wrapped her about with a hazy indistinctness that +made her one with the landscape, a thing of indefinite outline and +colouring, breathing, sentient nature in harmony with inanimate nature, +immovable and silent as the tree against which she leaned. + +So night settled silently over Wortheton, and a wanderer stole home in +its kindly shade. + +CHAPTER TWO. + +In the big ugly morning-room at Court Heatherleigh six people sat +engaged with different degrees of interest on six ugly pieces of coarse +material which were being fashioned into serviceable garments for the +poor. The poor were an institution in Wortheton and so was charity: +both, like the big chimneys dominating the town, were things of usage; +all were in a sense interdependent, and had their headquarters at Court +Heatherleigh, which was the big house and belonged to the owner of the +big chimneys--the owner of most things in Wortheton, from the ugly brick +cottages in which his employees dwelt to, one might say, the employees +themselves. The Trades Unions had not penetrated the select privacy of +Wortheton as yet. If occasionally a voice was uplifted in discontent +and hinted at these things, it was speedily silenced; and life flowed on +tranquilly as it had before the grumbler raised his foolish protest; and +his place knew him no more. But each whisper was as a small stone flung +in a mill stream; and stones follow the law of aggregation till +eventually they dam the stream. + +The six busy workers in Court Heatherleigh morning-room were the six +daughters of Mr Graynor, and their ages ranged from somewhere about +fifty to eighteen. Besides the daughters, two sons had swelled the +family. The younger of these had married indiscreetly, and died +indiscreetly with his wife somewhere abroad, bequeathing an indiscreet +son to his father because he had nothing else to leave behind him, +having departed from the family tradition that the end and aim of life +is to acquire wealth. He had acquired nothing beyond a wife and son; +but he had loved both these, and been beloved in turn, so that, +according to his views, he had prospered well: according to his brother +William's views, he had been a fool. + +William carried on the family traditions, and would eventually succeed +his father as owner of the big chimneys, the family mansion, and the +guardianship of his numerous sisters. He was not married. No one +expected him to marry; he did not expect it of himself. No woman worthy +of William's attention had ever adventured across his path. + +Of the sisters, Miss Agatha Graynor, who was the eldest of the family by +several years, took the lead in all things, social and domestic, and +ruled the household with a despotism that not even old Mr Graynor had +been known to question; though his wives--he had married twice--had +never been permitted such absolute authority. In his youth he had been +as despotic as Agatha; but he was an old man now, and weary; and his +daughter overawed him. The one being to whom he clung was his young +daughter. Prudence, the only child of his second wife; and after +Prudence, his scapegrace grandson, Bobby, then at college, held possibly +the strongest place in his tired affections. + +They were two very human young people, Prudence and Bobby, with a +contempt for the Graynor traditions, and lacking the Graynor pride and +self-complacency, and all the other creditable characteristics of an +old, influential, commercial stock that had owned the greater part of +Wortheton for generations, and had come to regard themselves by reason +of local homage as personages of high importance in the land. + +Prudence made one of the working party from a matter of compulsion; +charity of that nature bored her, and she hated sewing. Since leaving +school, where her happiest years had been spent, Miss Agatha had imposed +many irksome duties as a corrective for idleness: a healthy youthful +desire for pleasure and recreation affronted her; if she had experienced +such desires in her own youth she had forgotten them: possibly she had +not experienced them; people are born deficient in various respects and +in different degrees. Miss Agatha had always been Good: her young +half-sister was lacking in piety, and suffered from warm human impulses +which not infrequently led her into trouble and subsequent disgrace. +Also Prudence was pretty; the other five Miss Graynors were plain. + +The pretty, bored little face bending over the plain sewing showed +mutinous in the sunlit brightness of the quiet room; the small fingers +were hot, and the needle was sticky and refused to pass through the +coarse material: it bent alarmingly, and, in response to a savage little +thrust from a determined steel thimble, snapped audibly in the silence. +Miss Agatha looked up with quick rebuke. + +"Not again, Prudence? That is the second needle this morning." + +She hunted in her basket for a fresh needle, and passed it down the line +to the rebellious worker in displeased silence. Prudence's blue eyes +snapped dangerously, but she made no spoken comment. She threaded the +new needle languidly, and then sat with it in her idle hands and stared +through the open French window to the inviting stretch of green lawn, +dotted with brilliant flower beds, which made tennis, or any other game, +thereon impossible, which was the reason, Bobby was wont to assert, why +his aunt insisted on their remaining. Bobby and Prudence would have +made a clean sweep of the bedding-out borders if they had been allowed +their will. Miss Agatha, looking up and observing this idleness, was on +the point of remonstrating when the door opened opportunely to admit a +visitor, and Prudence's delinquencies were forgotten in the business of +welcoming the arrival. + +"My dear Mrs North!" Miss Agatha exclaimed, surprised, and rose +hastily and shook hands with the vicar's wife, who, warm and a little +flushed, greeted her effusively, and nodded affably to the train of +nondescript sisters, who all rose and remained standing until the +new-comer was seated, when they reseated themselves--all save Prudence; +she edged a little nearer to the open window, prepared for escape at the +first favourable moment. + +"Such an astonishing thing has happened," Mrs North was saying +breathlessly to the monotonous accompaniment of the diligently-plied +needles. "That girl, Bessie Clapp, has come back. I saw her myself in +her mother's house." + +Miss Agatha's thin cheek became instantly pink. She turned in her seat +and regarded her sisters with grave solicitude in her eyes. + +"Priscilla, Alice, Mary, Matilda, _and_ Prudence, leave the room," she +said. + +Four needles were promptly thrust into the unfinished work, and the four +sisters, who were echoes of Miss Agatha, and the youngest of whom was +thirty, rose obediently and followed slowly Prudence's more alert +retreat. When they had passed beyond sight of the window Miss Agatha +turned apologetically to her friend. + +"Of course," she explained earnestly, "I couldn't discuss that subject +in front of the girls." + +Mrs North, realising the delicacy of the position, generously +acquiesced. + +"It was a little indiscreet of me," she allowed. "But I was never so +astounded in my life. And the girl's mother actually defends her. She +talks about `her own flesh and blood.' ... As though that makes any +difference! I knew you would be shocked. It's such a scandal in the +place. And to come back... where every one knows!" + +"She can't stay," said Miss Agatha decidedly; and her thin lips +compressed themselves tightly, locking themselves upon the sentence as +it passed them. She pushed the work on the table aside and looked +fixedly at the vicar's wife. "We can't tolerate such a scandal in +Wortheton. We have to think of the people at the Works. That kind of +thing... it... We must set our faces against it." + +"Of course," Mrs North agreed doubtfully. "That's why I came to you." + +Every one came to Miss Agatha when an unpleasant situation had to be +faced: she faced it so resolutely, with the inflexibility of justice +untempered with mercy. Sin was sin. There were no intermediate shades +between black and white. Sin had to be uprooted. The moral prestige of +Wortheton demanded that all which was "not nice" must be eliminated from +its community. + +And in a dingy room in a dingy little house in a dingier side street, a +girl with a beautiful face was thinking in her passionate discontent how +good it was to be a bird--a small feathered thing in a nest among the +branches of a fine old tree--anything rather than a human being. + +CHAPTER THREE. + +Prudence leaned with her arms on the sill of her bedroom window, looking +out on the night-shadowed garden and the white line of the road beyond +its shrub-hidden walls. This was the best hour in the twenty-four--the +hour when she could be alone; for the bedroom, which once had been a +nursery, was all her own. The other Miss Graynors, with the exception +of Agatha, shared rooms; but the little half-sister who had occupied the +nursery alone for so many years was permitted to regard this haven as +still hers: no one sought to dispossess her, though the room was large +and had a south aspect, while Miss Agatha's room faced north. But Miss +Agatha was not averse from a northern aspect; and the room had the +advantage of commanding a view of the servants' quarters, so that she +was enabled to watch the coming in and, which was still more important, +the going forth of these dependants, whose seemly conduct she made her +particular care. + +Many people besides the poet have discovered that the pleasantest place +in the house is leaning out of the window. Prudence knew that. From +early spring to late autumn, and occasionally on fine frosty nights, she +leaned from her window and thought, and felt, and dreamed dreams of +romance and beauty, and of a life that was fuller than the life of +Wortheton, a life beyond the seclusion of the walled garden, beyond the +white winding road, the tall chimneys, and the dull succession of busy +dreary days--days which commenced with morning prayers at seven-thirty, +followed by breakfast at eight, by work, by an hour's walk before lunch, +a little district visiting, the receiving and returning of calls, tea at +five, a dull formal dinner at seven, and family prayers at half-past +eight. Then nine o'clock and merciful release, and that good hour, +sometimes longer, when she was supposed to be in bed and which she spent +leaning out of the window, dreaming her girlish dreams. We all know +those dreams of youth, though some of us forget them. They are just +dreams, nothing more; but none of life's realities are half as good as +those inspiring idle fancies which illumine the drabbest lives in the +imaginative days of youth. The dreams of youth are worth all the +philosophy, all the wisdom of the ages; and when they arise, as +Prudence's arose, out of a spirit of dissatisfaction with existing +things, they do not necessarily add to the dissatisfaction, but catch +one away from realities in a flight of golden thought. + +To-night, however, Prudence's mind was not concerned so much with +personal matters as with the story of the girl of whose return she had +heard that morning, the girl who was not good, and who was to be +banished from Wortheton for fear that her example might contaminate +others. Prudence wondered whether Wortheton were more susceptible to +contamination than most places; otherwise the sending forth of the black +sheep, who after all belonged to Wortheton, were to inflict an injustice +on some equally respectable town. Black sheep cannot be banished to the +nether world; they have to reside somewhere. + +The details of the girl's case were known to Prudence. All the secrecy +and silence of Miss Agatha's careful guardianship availed little against +an inquiring and sympathetic mind and somewhat unusual powers of +observation. Prudence at eighteen was not ignorant. To attempt to keep +an intelligent person ignorant is to attempt the impossible. Miss +Agatha did not shrink from impossible effort: furthermore she confused +the terms ignorance and innocence, and in her furtive avoidances +contrived to throw a suggestion of indelicacy upon the most simple of +elemental things. Many well-meaning persons bring disrepute in this way +on things which should be sacred, and utterly confuse the mind in +matters of morality with the disastrous result that, bewildered and +impatient, the individual not infrequently breaks away from conventional +caution and adopts a line of indifference in regard to decent +restraints. Life cannot be run on lines of suppression any more +successfully than on the broader gauge of a too liberal tolerance. +Restraint has to be practised; and it is the right of the individual to +be taught to recognise the necessity for this with the encouragement of +the practice. + +Miss Agatha's narrow creed proclaimed that the girl had sinned, and must +therefore be thrust forth; Prudence, in her impulsive youth, felt this +decree to be ungenerous, and, had she dared, would have championed the +sinner's cause before all Wortheton. She did not fear Wortheton, but +she was afraid of Agatha--Agatha, who, at the time of Prudence's birth, +was older than Prudence's mother, and who had domineered over her mother +and herself until the former's death, which sad event occurred when +Prudence was five years old. She remembered her mother only dimly, but +she hated Miss Agatha on her mother's account as she would not have +hated her on her own. The mop of golden curls which, with the wide blue +eyes, lent to Prudence's face a guileless and childlike expression, +covered a shrewd little brain. It was no strain on the owner's +intelligence to discern that Agatha was jealous of her, had been jealous +of her mother before her, on account of their father's preference; and +it occasioned her much inward satisfaction to reflect that not even +Agatha had the power to lessen his love for her: she was the child of +his old age and the light of his eyes. + +"I've half a mind," she said to herself, and rested her dimpled chin on +her hands and stared into the shadowy distance, "to tell him about +Bessie. If I asked him to interfere and let her remain, he--might." + +She did not feel very positive on that head; Mr Graynor was after all a +male edition of Agatha. Nevertheless, she would at least make her +appeal. + +"I wonder..." she mused, and thought awhile. + +"I suppose she was very much in love," was the outcome of these +reflections. "I wonder what it feels like to be very much in love." + +Prudence's world had not brought any of these experiences into her life. +She never met any men, save her father's friends and William's, none of +whom were calculated to awaken sentiment in the breast of a girl of +eighteen. The youngest of these was a man of forty, a nice kind old +thing, who brought her chocolates, and pulled her curls before she put +her hair up. Since the hair had gone up he had ceased to pull it, and +he did not bring her chocolates so often; his kindliness had become more +formal; but she liked him rather better on that account; the teasing had +sometimes annoyed her. + +Like most girls, Prudence allowed her mind at times to dwell on the +subject of love and marriage. The older girls at school had discussed +these subjects freely: one of them had professed an undying passion for +the drawing-master, who was married, and had asseverated before an +admiring audience in the playing-field that she would cheerfully ignore +the wife and run away with him if he asked her. He had not asked her. +He had indeed been entirely unaware of her devotion, and had regarded +her as a rather dull pupil. Prudence had considered her silly. Also +she held a belief that emotional excitement was not love. She was not +very clear in her thoughts what the term love expressed exactly; but she +believed that when it did come love would be a big thing. She did not +consider it in relation with marriage: marriage was a contract, often a +convenience. She would have been glad herself to marry, merely to +escape from Agatha and Wortheton. When a girl was married she could at +least fashion her own life. And Prudence loved children. She envied +Bessie Clapp her coming motherhood more than she pitied her on account +of the social ostracism entailed thereby. Prudence's ideas on morality, +never having been wisely directed, inclined to exalt the beauty of +motherhood and to ignore the baser aspect of crude and illicit passions +selfishly indulged. It is not the maternal woman who brings children +into the world with a selfish disregard for the shame of their nameless +birth. + +While Prudence leaned from her window and thought of love and +motherhood, she became abruptly and amazedly aware of a figure in the +road beyond the high wall--a man's figure, tall and straight in the +moonlight--walking with a purposeful air down the hill towards the town. +The man glanced up at the lighted window in which the girlish form was +brightly framed, and broke off abruptly in the middle of a bar he was +whistling softly, paused for the fraction of a second, and then went +swinging on down the hill. He was a stranger; Prudence recognised that; +there were no young men, except the factory employees and the tradesmen, +in Wortheton. + +"I wonder," she murmured to herself, and leaned further out to look +after the vanishing figure, "what it feels like to be in love..." + +A sudden sense of chill touched her. The moon vanished behind a cloud, +and a little cold breeze sprang up and played on her bare neck and arms. +The garden showed dark with the white light withdrawn, dark and +deserted. A shadowed loneliness had fallen on the spirit of the night. + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +"I want," Prudence said in her soft appealing voice, "the sum of fifty +pounds." + +Mr Graynor looked not unnaturally amazed. Prudence's wants had never +assumed such extravagant proportions before: it puzzled him to +understand what she could possibly require to necessitate the demand for +so large a sum, and, because he had only a few hours earlier refused to +listen to another outrageous request of hers and told her a little +harshly that there were matters with which she should not concern +herself, he hoped, despite a general reluctance to part with money, that +this further demand was one he could treat more generously. He put a +large shaky hand on her curls and tilted her head back and smiled into +the wide blue eyes. + +"Fifty pounds, eh?" he said. "That's a big sum, Prue." + +"You'll let me have it?" she asked, and clasped her hands round his arm. + +"That depends," he answered, "on what you want it for." + +"I'd rather not tell that," she said slowly. + +Mr Graynor removed his hand. Secrecy savoured of a want of candour; he +could not allow that. + +"I can't give you a cheque without knowing what you purpose spending the +money on," he said firmly. "It's a big sum for a little girl--even for +finery. You mustn't develop extravagance." + +Prudence braced herself and faced him a little defiantly. + +"It's not for me," she said. "I don't need anything. But you are +sending the Clapps away, and they've nowhere to go and no money. That +isn't just; it's--wicked." + +His face hardened while he listened to this sweeping indictment, and he +turned away from her with an air of sharp annoyance. + +"You are extremely foolish, Prudence," he said. "Leave these matters +which you are not able to understand to your elders. I forbid you to +mention this subject again." + +Prudence was defeated but not subdued. She accepted the defeat, but she +had her retort ready. + +"Very well," she said, as she moved towards the door. "Then I'll just +pray hard night and morning that God will befriend Bessie Clapp. When +you see me kneeling I hope you will remember." + +Then she was gone; and the old man, staring with his dim eyes at the +closed door, reflected uncomfortably that Prudence was growing strangely +annoying. She was, as he also recognised, growing extraordinarily like +her mother. Of course, he told himself, unconsciously self-deceiving, +he had always intended to see that these people were sufficiently +provided for. It was not necessary for his youngest daughter to point +out his duty to him. + +So Prudence was not really defeated; though she was denied the +satisfaction of knowing of her victory. Mr Graynor's subsequent +generosity amazed the recipients no more than it amazed his eldest +daughter and William, both of whom entirely disapproved of a munificence +they deemed unnecessary and an encouragement in wrong-doing. But old +Mr Graynor, furtively watching Prudence's golden head bowed over her +clasped hands during the evening prayers, bowed in almost aggressive +supplication, knew that he could not view it thus night and morning with +a deaf ear turned to her appeal for succour for the friendless. The +good-night kiss he gave her was, had she but known it, an answer to her +prayer. + +Prudence retired to her room that night in a state of antagonism towards +every one. She knew herself to be in disgrace. Agatha treated her with +chill disapproval, and William ignored her. It was William's invariable +rule to show his displeasure by treating the object thereof as though +she did not exist. Prudence had been ignored before: she did not resent +this; it amused her. William, when he attempted to be dignified, was +altogether ridiculous. + +He maintained the dignified role throughout the next day, and laboured +under the delusion that his pompous disregard was impressing his young +sister with a proper sense of the enormity of her indiscretion; a belief +which suffered a rude awakening at luncheon, when Prudence threw off her +ill-humour and emerged from the large silences in which she had +enwrapped herself to participate in the unenlivening talk carried on +fragmentally by the various members of the family. She had watched +brother William, who was a big man and corpulent of build, as she had +watched him for many years, with an amazed dumb criticism in her look, +unfasten with big deliberate fingers the two bottom buttons of his +waistcoat and the top button of his trousers on sitting down to lunch +for his greater convenience and the more thorough enjoyment of his food. +He performed this office regularly, with the formal solemnity of an +important rite. Prudence had come to regard it as William's grace +before meals. She sometimes wondered what ran through the serious minds +of the portly whiskered butler and the elderly parlourmaid, who +ministered to the family needs under his direction, daily privileged to +witness this public tribute of respect to the good things of life. +Perhaps they regarded these manifestations of epicurean nicety, as +Agatha regarded them, as becoming in William as a man and the +prospective head of the house of Graynor. It was an inconsistency in +Agatha's prudish nature to consider that men might do things which could +not be tolerated in the other sex, and that whatever William did must of +necessity be seemly. In Prudence's opinion, William's table manners +were gluttonous and disgusting. + +"A man called on me at the works this morning," William observed, +addressing his father, who latterly stayed much at home and left the +control and worry of business largely to his son. "He had a letter of +introduction from Morgan. I asked him to call at the house this +afternoon in time for tea. His name's Steele." + +"You should have asked him to dine," Mr Graynor said. + +"Time enough for that after you have seen him," William returned, and +for some reason, which he would have been at a loss to explain, his gaze +travelled in Prudence's direction and rested for the space of a second +on her listening, eager face. + +"I've seen him," Prudence said. "He's quite young." + +William raised his eyebrows; Miss Agatha's head came round with a jerk; +several other heads jerked round likewise, and every one looked at +Prudence. + +"I saw him from my window," Prudence explained, unabashed by the general +interest, "striding down the hill. His back looked nice." + +William sought to ignore the interruption and the interrupter, and +addressed himself exclusively to his father. But it was useless. +Prudence, having broken her silence, refused to be excluded from the +conversation, and expressed the flippant desire to see the face +belonging to the nice-looking back. + +Had it been possible to banish her young sister to her bedroom, Agatha +would have done so; but Prudence lately had shown a growing tendency to +break away from control, and she was wise enough not to put a further +strain on the weakening strands of her already frayed authority. +Therefore Prudence was in the drawing-room when the stranger called-- +indeed, she was the only person present so far as he was concerned. He +paid her far more attention than Miss Agatha deemed necessary or in good +taste. The manners of youth, as each generation which has left youth +behind unfailingly recognises, are sadly deteriorating. + +As for Prudence, she admired the front view as greatly as she had +admired the back. Mr Philip Steele was eminently well-favoured. +Prudence considered him handsome. She had met so few men that anyone +who escaped middle-age and stoutness appeared to her in the guise of +masculine perfection, provided only that his face was strong. Steele's +face matched with his name, sharp, clear-cut, firm of jaw. And he was +clean-shaven. William wore a beard. Hair on a man's face was +patriarchal. + +Tea was brought in by the butler and deposited on a table in front of +Miss Agatha; and the young man, seizing the opportunity when his +hostess' attention was thus engaged, demanded of Prudence in a +confidential undertone: + +"I say, wasn't it you I saw leaning from a window two nights ago?" + +"Yes." Prudence looked at him with a frank laugh in her blue eyes. "I +saw you pass. It must have been gorgeous, walking down there in the +moonlight." + +"It was pleasant," he said without enthusiasm, and added with a return +smile: "I was thinking how jolly it must be up there where you were, +looking out on the quiet fragrance of the night." + +And then they both laughed happily, though there was manifestly nothing +to laugh at. Miss Agatha, disapproving of this mutual enjoyment, called +Prudence away to make the tea; whereupon the young man followed her to +the tea-table and hovered over it, wishful to be of use. + +"One teaspoonful for each person and one for the teapot," Miss Agatha +directed precisely; and the visitor wondered with resentment why on +earth the old girl didn't make the brew herself. + +"I hope you'll like our tea," she said, when, having handed round the +various cups, Steele returned to the table for his own. "We give +eighteenpence a pound for it. We drink it for an example." + +She did not explain why, nor for whom, the example was deemed necessary. +Steele sipped his tea, and tried not to looked amazed, and assured her +that it was jolly good. Then he wandered back to Prudence's side, +openly curious as to her relationship in regard to the others. + +"I say," he murmured--"don't think me rude--but where do you come in?" + +Prudence scrutinised him for a perplexed moment, at a loss for his +meaning; whereupon he suggested with a smile: + +"Niece, perhaps?" + +"Oh!" The gay little laugh, which so irritated Miss Agatha's ears, +broke from her lips once more. "I see. No. I'm Mr Graynor's youngest +daughter... by his second marriage," she added, with just a hint of +malice in her voice. + +The young man grasped the position. + +"I'm getting hold of it," he said, a sympathetic light in his eyes. +"The thing puzzled me. I couldn't place you. You don't seem to fit +in." Then he said with a kind of inspiration, as though the idea had +suddenly presented itself to him: "You don't fit in, you know. Your +place rightly is leaning out of a window. That's how I shall always +picture you." + +It was an extraordinary talk, and altogether delightful. Prudence +enjoyed his visit tremendously. But when he left, Miss Agatha reproved +her sharply for pushing herself forward and monopolising the visitor. + +"He monopolised me," Prudence contended. "I retired into corners, and +he followed." + +"You made yourself conspicuous," Miss Agatha said, "and behaved +altogether in a forward and unseemly manner." + +Prudence had occasion later to regret this success in which she had +triumphed at the time; Mr Philip Steele had not succeeded in winning +general favour, and so never received the invitation to dine. He did +not possess sufficient nerve to present himself at the house uninvited, +or he would have called again for the pleasure of meeting Prudence. He +did meet her, but the encounter was accidental. It was all the more +enjoyable on that account. They met where there were neither walls nor +interruptions, where they could talk without reserve and laugh +unrestrainedly, with only the mating birds to hear them, and the soft +wind to catch up and echo their mirth in the tall trees overhead--a +joyous meeting, with the springtime harmony about them, and the +springtime gladness in their hearts and eyes. + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed Steele, when he vaulted a stile and came upon her, +picking primroses from the hedge. "This is a piece of luck!" + +Prudence looked up from her occupation. The sunlight was in her +surprised blue eyes, in her hair; it shone on her white dress, and on +the pale wilting flowers in her hand. The effect of her was dazzling--a +white shining thing of milk and roses against the soft greens of the +bank. He had sprung upon her unawares, and it took her a little while +to recover from her astonishment. And yet she had been thinking of +him--thinking how agreeable it would be if the event which was now +realised could only befall. She had been guilty of loitering, of +watching the field-path furtively, and wishing she knew which direction +he took when he walked abroad. And now he stood before her, gay, and +unmistakably pleased, with a laugh in his grey eyes which expressed his +satisfaction. He had been thinking about her as she had been thinking +of him, and wishing that he had made better use of his time that +afternoon, and discovered her favourite haunts. It was all right now; +they had found one another. That was good, because on the morrow he was +going away. + +"You'd never guess how hard I've been wishing I might happen upon you +this morning," he said as they shook hands. "It looks as though wishing +had brought its reward. I'm rather a believer in telepathy. Something +of what has been in my mind must unconsciously have transmitted itself +to yours. Have you given me any thought, I wonder? I've given you so +many," he added, observing her blush. + +"I was thinking of you at the moment you appeared," Prudence answered +with audacious candour. "You see, William mentioned at breakfast that +you were leaving to-morrow. I wondered why you came? So few people +come here--except commercial travellers." + +"There are one or two at the hotel," he said, laughing. "Save that they +possess enormous appetites, I haven't observed them particularly. The +landlady informed me that they are very exclusive. I came on the firm's +business--Morgan Bros. We're woollen too, you know." + +"Yes I know. Mr Morgan stays with us sometimes." + +She regarded him with renewed interest. It was a little disappointing +to discover that he followed the same occupation as William; she had +placed him in her thoughts amid more romantic surroundings. The +factory, despite its financial magnificence, struck her as rather +sordid. He became aware of the criticism in her eyes and smiled in some +amusement. + +"I'm just a paid man," he volunteered. "Nothing very gorgeous about my +position." + +"But that's an advantage," she said, and smiled in sympathy. "At least, +you can leave." + +"True. I never thought of it like that. My principal concern has been +to evade leaving; it has loomed so very imminent at times. I say, let's +sit on this stile in the shade of that jolly elm and talk. You're not +in a hurry, are you?" + +"No," answered Prudence, who knew that she ought to be at home sewing in +the morning-room, knew also that she had not the smallest intention of +going back now. "I'm not in any hurry. It's--pleasant here." + +"Yes, isn't it? I don't think I have ever seen prettier country than +this. You were gathering primroses?" + +"Just a few late ones." She held the bunch up and surveyed their +drooping beauty. "It's almost a pity; they looked so sweet in the +hedge." + +"They look sweeter where they are," he said quite sincerely, though +obviously without sufficient reason for the comparison; the primroses +were so unmistakably dying. "Put one in my button-hole, will you? It +will recall a pleasant morning." + +She complied without hesitation, laughing when the task was accomplished +because the flower drooped its head. + +"A bit shy," he commented. "It is going to raise its face and smile at +me when I put it in water, later." + +"Will you really do that?" she asked. + +"Why, of course. You don't suppose I would allow a gift of yours to +fade into a memory?" + +"But it will fade," she insisted, "in spite of your efforts. All these +pleasant things fade so swiftly." + +He turned more directly towards her and looked into her eyes. She had +taken off her hat, and sat with her shoulders against the tree and +looked steadily back at him. + +"Yes," he admitted; "that's uncomfortably true. But something remains." + +"Something?" Her eyes questioned him, wide childlike eyes with a hint +of womanhood lurking in their blue depths. He drew a little nearer to +her. + +"Something," he repeated--"subtle, intangible--an emotion, a memory... +Call it what you will... Some recurring brightness which is to the +human soul what the sunlight is to the earth--a thousand harmonies +spring from the one source. My primrose will fade, but for me it can't +die; nor will the kind hand that gathered it and placed it where it is +be forgotten either. There are things one doesn't forget." + +"I suppose there are," acquiesced Prudence, her thoughts by some odd +twist reverting to William's table manners. "Sometimes one would like +to forget." + +"I shouldn't," he averred--"not this, at least." + +She roused herself with a laugh. + +"I was thinking of other things--I don't know why--horrid things. Are +you one of a large family?" + +"No," he answered, surprised. "I'm an only son--and rather a bad +investment. Why?" + +"There are eight of us," said Prudence--"counting Bobby." + +"Who is Bobby?" + +"He's a dear," she answered, as though that explained Bobby. "He's at +college: when he leaves he will have to go into the factory; and he +hates it so. But there isn't any help for it. He is the only Graynor +to carry on." + +"I don't think his case calls for sympathy exactly," he remarked dryly, +with a contemplative eye on the tall red chimneys, an eye that travelled +slowly over the wide spring-clad countryside and came back to her face +and rested there in quiet enjoyment. + +"You don't know," she returned seriously, "how the kind of life we lead +here stifles an imaginative person." + +"You find it dull?" he said. "I suppose it may be. Most country towns +are dull." + +"The country isn't to blame," she explained; "it's the routine of dull +business, dull duties, dull pleasures, and duller people. You've no +idea... How should you know? Virtue, as practised in Wortheton, is a +quality without smiles, and enjoyment is sinful. Instead of idling +happily here I ought to be at home sewing garments for the poor, like +the others are doing. I shall be reproved for flaying truant... and I +don't care." + +She laughed joyously. Steele, ignoring the larger part of her +communications, leaned towards her, intent on bringing her back to a +particular phrase that stuck in his memory. + +"Are you happy sitting here--with me?" he asked. + +"I'm always happy," Prudence replied calmly, "when I've some one to talk +to who isn't Wortheton." + +"Oh!" he said, a little damped. "So that's it? Well, I'm happy sitting +here talking with some one who is Wortheton." + +"I'm not up to sample," she said, amused. "If you want local colour, +call at the Vicarage--or take William as a specimen. Wortheton is +earnest in woof." + +She looked so pretty and so impish as she drew her invidious comparisons +that Steele was unable to suppress a smile of sympathy. Her criticism +of her brother was wanting in loyalty; but he could find in his heart no +blame for her: he did not like William, possibly because William had so +pointedly refrained from extending further hospitality to him. The +young man had counted on an extension, and was disappointed. + +"You'll shake the dust off your feet some day," he hazarded, and thought +how agreeable it would be to assist in the escape. Visions of scorching +across country in a motor with her beside him floated pleasantly through +his brain. + +"Some day," she returned a little vaguely, and looked pensively into the +distance. "Yes, I'll do that... But it's so difficult to find a way." + +"Time will solve that difficulty, I expect," he said. + +She glanced towards him brightly, a look of expectant eagerness shining +in her eyes. He felt that when the opportunity offered she would not be +slow in seizing it, and was unreasonably angry at the thought of his own +uncertain prospects, which offered not the faintest hope of his ever +being able to hire, much less own, the necessary car in which to scorch +across country with anyone. + +"You say such nice, encouraging things," she observed. "I hope time +won't be long in solving the difficulty. It would be horrid to be +forced to live here until I am middle-aged." + +"I'm afraid you will be disappointed when you get out into the world," +he said. "Life is pretty much the same elsewhere as here, I take it. +It is what we make it--largely." + +"It is what other people make it for us--largely," she mimicked him. "I +could have quite a good time if I was allowed to. When Bobby is home we +do contrive a little fun, but it generally ends in disaster. They sent +him back to school a week before term commenced once. Agatha managed +that. It is always Bobby who reaps the blame; I am punished +vicariously." + +"I call that vindictive," Steele said. + +"We called it that--and other things." She smiled reminiscently. "It's +odd how these little things stick in the memory. I never sew without +recalling that exasperating week when I broke needles maliciously six +days in succession. I break them occasionally now--in memoriam." + +He laughed aloud. + +"I don't fancy Miss Graynor gets it all her own way," he said. + +Prudence swung her hat by the brim and gazed up at a patch of blue sky +between the trees. A little frown puckered her brow. She had ceased to +think of Agatha; her mind was intent on the man beside her, the man who +was merely a new acquaintance and yet seemed already a tried and +sympathetic friend. She liked him. She wished he were staying longer +in Wortheton. She wished William had invited him to spend his last +evening at Court Heatherleigh. Strictly speaking, courtesy demanded it; +but William was not always courteous. She held a well-founded belief +that William sought to punish her by this omission; and it pleased her +to reflect that she was in a sense getting even with him through the +present informal meeting. She promised herself the satisfaction of +relating her morning's experience at lunch for his and Agatha's +delectation. They so entirely disapproved of such harmless pleasures. + +"If you've really nothing to do," she said, "let us go for a stroll in +the woods. It's lovely there; and we can talk... I feel like a recluse +enjoying an unexpected holiday: I want to make the most of it. And I +love to talk." + +"So do I--with some people," he returned in his level, pleasant voice, +and lent her a hand to assist her down from the stile. "It's as well to +be hung for a sheep as a lamb, don't you think? Why not enlarge on the +idea? I know a shop where we can procure quite edible pasties. If you +are agreeable, I could fetch provisions, and we can picnic in the +woods." + +"But that's a capital idea," said Prudence, with a careless disregard +for developments, which further evidenced the emancipation Miss Agatha +already foresaw. + +"There'll be such a row," she said cheerfully, as they walked across the +fields side by side. "It was just such another excursion that Bobby was +sent back to school for." + +"For a little thing like that!" He laughed. "Well, they can't send me +back to school anyhow, and I have a comfortable feeling in my mind that +you'll be able to keep your end up. Miss Graynor would be wise to +recognise that her day is done. I'll return with you and take my share +of the censuring. With luck I might be asked to stay to tea." + +This audacity amused them both. There was gladness in the spring day, +the gladness of irresponsible youth, the gladness of life in its promise +with the hope of its fruition unfulfilled and undaunted. The two gay +young hearts, in their mutual pleasure in one another, were in tune with +the brightness of the May morning; and the two gay young voices rang out +in clear enjoyment and awoke the echoes in the shady woods. + +CHAPTER SIX. + +It detracted somewhat from Prudence's enjoyment when, having lunched +delightfully off viands which would have met with less favour eaten off +a plate from an ordinary dining-table, having subsequently strolled +about the woods, engaged in botanical and other research, it abruptly +occurred to her that it was time to return home. The thought of going +home was less pleasant with the prospect so imminent. Picnicking in the +woods with a comparative stranger was, she felt now, a sufficiently +unusual proceeding to make explanation difficult. Neither Agatha nor +her father would view the matter in the light in which she saw it-- +simply as a pleasant excursion breaking the monotony of dull days. The +necessity to account for her absence at all annoyed her. + +"The drawback to stolen pleasure," she announced, regarding the young +man with serious eyes in which a shade of anxiety was faintly reflected, +"lies in the aftermath of nettles; while not dangerous, they sting." + +"By Jove! yes," he agreed. "The little matter of going back has been +sitting on my mind for the last ten minutes. The thing loses its humour +when no longer in the background. I'm really horribly afraid of Miss +Graynor." + +"You need not come," said Prudence generously. + +"Oh! I'm not so mean a coward as to back out," he said. "It's up to me +to see it through with you. After all, the excursion was at my +suggestion. And it was worth being stung for by all the nettles that +ever grew. Besides, I want my tea." + +"You'll be lucky if you get it," she returned. + +"Come now!" he urged. "Let us take a charitable view, and decide that +they will dispense generous hospitality. Upon my soul, I don't see why +they shouldn't be charmed to receive us. The Prodigal, you know, got an +amazing reception." + +"Yes," she laughed. "I think possibly we'll get an amazing reception +too. Please, if you don't mind, I would rather you took that dead +flower out of your coat." + +"They would never suspect you of putting it there," he protested, with a +feeling of strong reluctance to do what she proposed. + +But Prudence insisted. She knew that when William's eye fell on that +withered memento her guilty conscience would give him the clue to its +history. + +"In any case," she added diplomatically, "it adds a look of untidiness." + +And so the primrose never had the opportunity of lifting its head in +water. Before discarding it, Steele was seized with the idea of placing +it between the leaves in his pocket-book; but after a glance at the +pretty, serious face of his companion he decided against this and left +the dead flower lying in the bracken at their feet. + +"The first brush against the nettles," he remarked, and smiled at her +regretfully. "I'm braced now. That first sting hurt more than any +other can." + +The further stings proved embarrassing rather than hurtful. When Steele +entered the drawing-room at Court Heatherleigh with Prudence he was made +uncomfortably aware of the surprised gaze of five pairs of curious +feminine eyes all focussed upon himself, and, advancing under this +raking fire, felt his amiable smile of greeting fade before Miss +Agatha's blank stare of cold inquiry; her reluctantly extended hand, its +chill response to his clasp, reduced him to a state of abject humility. +He found himself stammering an apologetic explanation of his presence. + +"I just looked in to say good-bye," he began awkwardly. "I had the good +luck to meet Miss Graynor this morning--" + +"I presume you mean that you encountered my sister, Prudence?" Miss +Graynor interrupted him frigidly. + +He flushed, and felt savage with himself for being betrayed into the +weakness. + +"I met Miss Prudence--yes, and persuaded her to show me the woods. You +have some very beautiful scenery about here; it seemed a pity to miss +the best of it, and this was my last opportunity. I made the most of +it," he added with a touch of audacity which Miss Agatha inwardly +resented. + +"We've had a delightful time," Prudence interposed defiantly, and turned +as her father entered the room and forestalled his reproaches with a +light kiss on his unresponsive lips. "I've been picnicking in the +woods, daddy," she said brightly. "And now we've come back--for tea." + +She made this announcement in the tone of a person who does not intend +to be denied. Miss Agatha remarked tartly that it was not the hour for +tea, and Mr Graynor, ignoring the hospitable suggestion, reproved her +for her long absence. + +"You caused me considerable anxiety," he said. + +Prudence expressed her contrition. Steele added his apologies, although +in his heart he felt there was nothing in the adventure to apologise +for. + +"I am afraid the fault was mine," he said. "The suggestion originated +with me. I was thoughtless enough to overlook the fact that you might +be worried." + +"The thoughtlessness was on my daughter's side," Mr Graynor answered. +"She is fully aware that her absence from luncheon would cause anxiety. +She should have invited you to return with her instead." + +Prudence flashed a surprised smile at him. To have done what he +proposed was the last thing she would have dared to do. Had she given +the invitation she would have been reproved quite as severely for taking +the liberty as for absenting herself without permission. The privilege +of independent action involving promiscuous hospitality was vested +solely in Agatha and William. + +Matters appeared to have reached a deadlock. Steele had nothing to say! +Prudence had nothing to say! Miss Agatha had no desire to help the +situation by bridging the silence; and Mr Graynor had nothing further +to add to his reproof. He seated himself. Since Miss Agatha remained +standing Steele had no option but to do the same: he felt increasingly +awkward, and wished he had taken advantage of Prudence's permission and +remained out of it. + +"Sit down, sit down," exclaimed Mr Graynor suddenly, with an accession +of ill-humour as he became aware of the general strain. "Why is every +one standing?" + +His intervention scarcely relieved matters. Steele said he thought he +must be going, and murmured something about an early start on the +morrow; he had merely called to make his adieux. Miss Agatha's prompt +acceptance of this explanation for the brevity of his visit was not +flattering; but Mr Graynor, awakening tardily to a sense of the lack of +cordiality, protested against his leaving so hurriedly. + +"William will be in presently," he said. "You had better wait and see +him. And we'll have tea. I see no object in deferring tea, Agatha, +until a given hour." + +"Prudence," Agatha commanded, "ring the bell, please." + +Steele attempted to forestall the girl; their hands touched as each +reached out to press the button. + +"Oh, Lord!" he murmured under his breath, and caught her eye and smiled +dryly. "It will require something more efficacious than dock leaves to +counteract these nettles." + +She drew back without replying, but her face was charged with meaning, +and he detected the hidden laughter in her eyes. It was well for her, +he decided, that she could find anything to laugh at in the dismal +situation; for himself he would gladly have escaped and sacrificed the +tea; a whisky and soda would have suited him better at the moment. + +The tea, when it came, caused little unbending, but it provided a +legitimate excuse for moving from Miss Agatha's side, and it gave him an +opportunity for a few minutes' talk with Prudence, a disjointed, +embarrassed talk under the close observation of the rest. Steele was +conscious of those watchful eyes, of the listening hang in the +conversation when he approached the girl. Prudence also was conscious +of this silent manifestation of vigilant criticism on the part of her +family; but she had reached a stage of recklessness which moved her to +openly disregard the condemnation in Agatha's eyes when Steele, having +handed the cake to her, remained beside her for a few minutes, and held +her in conversation. + +"I have been reconsidering what you said in the wood," he observed, +"about the influence of others in regard to the enjoyment of life. You +were entirely right." + +"Given the opportunity, I knew I could prove my case," she answered with +the same amount of caution in her tones as he had used. "But you +mustn't talk to me now, please; I'm in disgrace." + +"So am I," he replied. "I wonder if you will be looking out of a window +to-night?" + +"I expect so." + +"I prowl about most nights," he said, and scrutinised her face intently +to observe the effect of his words. + +"I know. I've seen you." + +"It is regrettable," he remarked, "that the upper story of a private +house is usually inaccessible. Won't you have another piece of cake? +No! Miss Matilda, may I fetch you some tea?" + +The maidenly breasts of the four Miss Graynors, who were pale +reflections of their eldest sister, were pleasantly stirred by Steele's +punctilious courtesy. They were envious of their young half-sister, +whose temerity had led her into the indiscretion of spending an entire +morning in the society of a member of the opposite sex. It does not +follow that a life which has known no romance is innocent of romantic +aspirations. Miss Matilda, spare and prim and slightly grey, +experienced a vague sense of loss and of resentment against her single +state when she met Steele's smiling, youthful eyes, and reflected that +no man's glance had ever rested upon herself with that look of pleased +interest which she observed in Steele's face whenever it was turned in +Prudence's direction. Prudence, of course, was pretty and young. Miss +Matilda's girlhood lay behind her, but it had known none of the delights +that her virgin heart longed for in the secret chamber which she seldom +unlocked even for her own inspection. The emotions that lay concealed +there were unbecoming in a modest woman whose function it was to be +pious and dutiful in the acceptance of her lot. + +It was possibly due to these hidden emotions that Steele found Miss +Matilda's society less depressing than her sister's, and he clung to it +tenaciously until the entrance of brother William assigned him as by +right to the position of audience to the ponderous conversation of this +man of limited intelligence and no humour. William would have failed to +understand that a man, even when young, would rather talk with a woman +than be talked to by himself. The manner in which his sisters effaced +themselves in his presence was a tribute to, as well as a recognition +of, his masculine superiority. It was the want of a proper appreciation +on his youngest sister's part in this respect that so frequently made it +necessary for him to assert his dignity before her. He was angry with +her now, and he passed her with his face averted, righteous indignation +in his frown and in the set of his shoulders. Steele felt that it would +be a pleasure to kick him; but when he detected the mischievous +wickedness in Prudence's eyes, William's dignity became a matter for +amusement rather than annoyance; the man was so obviously an ass. + +"The weather," William observed, as he took his tea, waited on by two of +his sisters despite Steele's efforts to relieve them, "shows signs of +breaking. The barometer has fallen." + +"The country needs rain," Miss Agatha remarked in tones of satisfaction. + +And for the next few minutes the advantages of a good downpour and the +benefit therefrom to the garden as well as to the farmers, was discussed +in detail: the watering of the borders, it transpired, fully occupied +the gardener's time each evening as a result of the dry spell. + +Bored beyond measure, Steele took an abrupt leave, and declining +William's invitation to take a stroll round the grounds in his company, +seized his hat and fled. + +"She'll never stick it," he reflected, as he banged the gate and hurried +away down the road like a man pursued. "She can't. She'll do a bunk, +one day. I would in her place." + +And Prudence, defenceless in the drawing-room, meeting the brunt of +William's anger, and the reproaches of the others, determined in her +rebellious soul that if release did not come in some legitimate form +before she was twenty-one, she would on acquiring that age obtain it for +herself. + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +The moonlight fell softly on Prudence's bright hair, touching the curls +lovingly with a wan brilliance that, paling their shining gold, added a +purer sheen to replace the beauty stolen by the night. Its light was +reflected in the blue depths of her eyes, eyes which took on the misty +darkness of the night sky so that the moonbeams felt at home therein and +lingered there confidingly. She leaned far out of the window, and the +fragrance of some early gloire de Dijon roses was wafted towards her on +the night breeze. A scent besides that of the roses stole up to her out +of the shadows--the scent of cigarette smoke, too close under her window +to suggest that the smoker was beyond the wall that shut off the garden +from the road. Prudence had watched the smoker enter the garden; she +watched him now throw away his cigarette among the flowers in one of the +borders as he advanced, and she heard his voice speaking softly to her +out of the gloom. + +"Can't you come down?" he asked. + +"Not unless you have come provided with a rope ladder," she replied as +softly. + +"By Jove! I never thought of that. But you aren't locked in?" + +"Not in the sense you mean. But locked doors would be trifles compared +with the opposition I should encounter if I attempted to join you. I'd +love to come out; but it's impossible." + +"Is there any likelihood of our being overheard?" he asked with caution. + +Prudence laughed quietly. + +"Every likelihood," she answered. "I don't think I mind." + +Steele stood under cover of the wall of the house. There were no lights +in the windows on that side; he had observed that on former occasions; +the library, where Mr Graynor sat every evening with William, faced the +other way. + +"Then I'm going to run the risk and stay and talk with you," he said. + +There was a strange intimacy in the situation that appealed to Prudence. +The adventure of the morning was as nothing compared with this stolen +interview. The insufficient light of the moon, and the distance which +divided them, added a touch of romance which she found pleasantly +exciting. To gaze down upon his upturned face and the uncertain outline +of his form below stirred her imagination; and the necessity for +caution, occasioning them to lower their voices to whispers, gave to the +utterance of the most trivial speech the flavour of intimate things. +She leaned down nearer to him. + +"It's rather like Romeo and Juliet, isn't it?" she said. + +"That ended rottenly," he replied, and laughed. + +"So will this probably. What made you venture inside?" + +"Isn't the reason obvious?" he returned. "I thought I had prepared you +for my visit at tea. It wasn't possible for us to say good-bye like +that. I'm sorry I got you into that mess." + +"You didn't," Prudence assured him gently. "I knew how it would be. +I'm not regretting--anything. Stinging nettles cease to hurt when the +rash subsides. William is furious. We don't speak." + +"That must be rather a relief for you." + +She dimpled suddenly. + +"He doesn't think so. When I apologise I am to be taken into favour +again. So, if he keeps to that, it is likely to be many years before we +interchange remarks." + +"What an egregious ass he is," Steele commented. "Never mind that now. +We don't want to discuss him. I came to-night to beg a favour. Will +you write to me sometimes? ... and may I write? I don't want to lose +touch altogether." + +"I can't promise that," she said, and fingered a rosebud below her +window, snapping its stem in nervous preoccupation. "All our letters go +into a box at the post office and are sorted before we receive them. +They would not allow me to correspond with you." + +"Could we not arrange a little deception," he suggested, "by means of +which you could collect your own letters from the post office?" + +But this idea did not commend itself to Prudence. She might be a rebel, +but she was honest, as courageous people usually are; anything in the +nature of deceit repelled her. "I should not care to do that," she +said. Her answer pleased Steele, although it defeated his purpose. He +had hoped to follow up this pleasant friendship begun under such unusual +and difficult conditions. It was the quality of conspiracy and quick +intimacy which made the acquaintance so extraordinarily attractive to +him. He was more than half in love with her already; and it galled him +to reflect that with his present uncertain prospects he was no match for +this daughter of a wealthy man. He could not have afforded to marry had +other conditions proved favourable, which they did not: Mr Graynor +would scarcely have welcomed a son-in-law with a salary of under two +hundred a year. + +"I am afraid that settles it," he said in tones compounded of a mixture +of emotions. "I wonder if ever I'll have the good luck to meet you +again?" + +This remark pulled Prudence up sharply. She had never considered the +question of his going out of her life; the suggestion thus forced on her +unwilling attention hurt. Abruptly the knowledge came to her that she +did not wish to lose his friendship. She had not considered the matter +of his going away seriously: she had taken it for granted that the +business that had brought him to Wortheton would bring him again; no +doubt had crossed her mind as to a further meeting--now that the doubt +was implanted a vague distress seized her, bringing with it a sense of +desolation. She realised that when he was gone she would miss him, +would feel doubly lonely by comparison with this bright break in the +monotony of her life. + +"You'll come again?" she said quickly. + +"It's possible," he answered, "but not in the least likely. It was just +a chance that brought me this time. The firm sends a more important man +as a rule. If I come again you will soon know of it. I shall make my +first appearance under your window. In the meanwhile you will quite +possibly have forgotten my existence." + +"Amid the distractions of Wortheton!" Prudence retorted. "That's very +probable, isn't it?" + +He laughed. + +"I won't hear a word against Wortheton if it keeps your memory green," +he returned. + +"It fossilises memory," she answered. "Every little event that has ever +befallen is stamped on my mind in indelible colours--drab colours for +the unpleasant event, and brighter tints for the pleasant in comparison +with their different degrees of agreeableness." + +"And this event?" he questioned. "These stolen moments? In what colour +is this event painted?" + +"I'll tell you that when we meet again--perhaps," she answered. + +"Oh please!" he persisted. "I want to know now." + +Prudence laughed softly. He detected a slight nervousness in her mirth, +a quality of shyness that gratified his eager curiosity, conveying as it +did that the girl was not insensible of his influence and his unspoken +homage. + +"You see," she said, and blushed warmly in the darkness as she leaned +down towards him, "it is all a confusion of splashes of moonlight and +brighter splashes of sunshine. There aren't any colours on the canvas +at all." + +"I'm contented with that," he said... "a luminous impression! Your +fancy pleases me. My fancy in connexion with you will picture always a +rose-bowered window set in a grey stone wall--just a frame for you, with +your moonlit hair and eyes like beautiful stars. Always I shall see you +like that--inaccessible, while I stand below and gaze upward." + +This extravagance led to further admissions. He managed very clearly to +convey to his silent listener that his feeling for her was of quite an +unusual quality, that he cared immensely, that he had no intention of +letting her drop out of his life. He wanted to see more of her and was +fully determined to do so. He made her realise that unless she +disclaimed a reciprocal liking he intended taking her silence for +acquiescence. He spoke so rapidly, and with so much concentrated +passion in his lowered tones, that Prudence only vaguely comprehended +all that his eager words attempted to convey. She was apprehensive of +discovery, and, rendered doubly nervous by this clandestine love-making +and the fear of interruption, could find no words in which to reply. +She wanted time to think: the whole situation flurried her; and her +heart was beating with a rapidity that made articulation difficult. + +"Oh!" she said... "Oh! I didn't know... I didn't understand..." + +"Well, you understand now," he answered. "Prudence, give me one word-- +one kind word to carry away with me... dear!" + +There followed a pause, during which her face showed dimly above him, +with eyes shadowed darkly in the wan light. She leaned towards him. + +"Ssh! Good-bye--dear!" she called back softly. And the next thing he +realised, even as her words floated faintly down to his eager ears, was +that he was standing alone in the darkness, gazing up at the place where +she had stood and from whence she had vanished with startling and +unaccountable suddenness. + +Later Steele walked back to the quaint little hotel where he was +staying, confused by the hurried sweetness of her farewell as she +withdrew from her position at the window with a caution that suggested +unseen interruption. He had stepped forward with noiseless haste to +secure a rose which fell from her window, and carrying it with him, made +his way silently out of the garden. He was never certain whether the +falling of the rose had been accidental, or whether Prudence had dropped +it for him as a token and a reminder; but because her hand had gathered +it, he lifted it in the moonlight and touched its cool fragrance +reverently with his lips. The act made him consciously her lover. The +rose became a symbol--a bond between him and her. Just so long as he +kept it he knew that her influence would dominate his life, and his +memory of her retain its warm and vital quality, so that she would +remain a beautiful inspiration amid the sordid worries of uncongenial +things. + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +"I heard you," Miss Matilda said in tones of immense reserve to her +youngest sister on the following morning when they met on the landing at +the top of the stairs, "talking from your window last night." + +Prudence blushed brightly. + +"Then it was you who came to my door?" + +"Yes." Miss Matilda kept her maidenly gaze lowered to the carpet. Her +expression was guilty, so that one might have supposed that she, and not +the defiant young woman whom she accosted in this unexpected way, had +engaged in clandestine whisperings overnight. "I was afraid Mary might +wake. You were a little imprudent, I think." + +Prudence laughed. The gently spoken reproof sounded like a play on her +name. + +"You are a dear," she said, and felt more kindly towards this sister +whom she so little understood. + +Had Miss Matilda proved less pliant to Miss Graynor's moulding she might +have developed into an ordinary human being; but she had gone down under +Miss Agatha's training, had imbibed the family traditions until she +became saturated with the Graynor ideals and lost her own individuality. +In her heart she sympathised with her sister's indiscretions; but her +mind condemned this conduct as unseemly and unbecoming in a girl of +refinement. + +She went downstairs in advance of Prudence, and throughout the reading +of the morning prayers her pink distressed face witnessed to its owner's +shame in being a partner to this flagrant deception. She was shielding +her sister against her conscience: no accessory to a criminal offence +could have felt more wickedly implicated. And Prudence did not care. +She was so utterly reckless that she had not bargained even with Miss +Matilda for her silence. It had not occurred to Prudence that anyone +could be mean enough to inform against her. + +With the finish of breakfast Miss Agatha commanded her presence in the +morning-room, and provided her with sufficient work to occupy her fully +until the lunch hour; and Prudence sat near the open window with her +sewing in her lap and looked out on the garden with faintly smiling +eyes, recalling the overnight interview while she watched the gardener a +few yards off trimming a border of wallflowers which since the previous +day had been trampled upon inexplicably. + +"It must have been a dog from outside, Simmonds," Miss Agatha remarked +from her position at the window. + +Simmonds, stooping over the despoiled border, presented an +uncompromising back to her view. He grunted something, of which the +only word that Miss Agatha caught was "tramps." + +"In that case," she said with decision, "it is a matter for the police." + +The smile in Prudence's eyes deepened, and Miss Matilda's downbent face +took on a brighter shade of pink. There is no end to the embarrassment +which follows upon duplicity. + +Luncheon brought William and a further sense of enormity. William +appeared somewhat obviously not to see his youngest sister; she had +become, since answering him with unpardonable rudeness in the +drawing-room yesterday, amazingly invisible to him. That he was aware +of her presence was manifest by the care with which he avoided looking +in her direction, and by the calculated offensiveness of his speech in +referring to the absent Steele. + +"I am glad to say that bounder Steele left by train this morning," he +announced with unpleasant emphasis, as soon as the usual attention to +his buttons, which allowed for a more expansive ease, left him free to +indulge in the amenities of the table. "I hope Morgan won't send a man +like that again." + +"Edward Morgan usually comes himself," Mr Graynor observed. "But for a +touch of bronchitis he would have come. He is subject to chest +trouble." + +"Well, of course," said Prudence, with the sisterly intention of +annoying William who was senior to Mr Morgan, "he is getting old." + +Edward Morgan was the man who, with heavy playfulness, had pulled her +curls in the days of her childhood. Despite the fact that she rather +liked him, she looked upon him as almost elderly; he had seemed to her +elderly at thirty. + +"Don't be absurd," interposed Miss Agatha sharply. "Mr Morgan is in +the prime of life." + +Although he would have enjoyed the business of squashing her, William, +in his determination to ignore Prudence's existence, was compelled to +let the remark pass unchallenged. He addressed himself pointedly to his +father on matters appertaining to the works, while the five Miss +Graynors interchanged commonplaces, and Prudence was left to the +satisfying of a healthy young appetite, and her own reflections, which, +judging from her expression of pleasant abstraction, were more +entertaining than the scrappy conversation to which she paid no +attention. + +At the finish of the meal Miss Agatha created a diversion by requesting +William to call at the police station to report that tramps had been +loitering on the premises and had made havoc of the flowers in the +borders. William required to be shown the borders, which he inspected +with an air of pompous vexation, describing the damage as scandalous and +an outrage, to the secret amusement of his youngest sister, who observed +him critically from the French window of the drawing-room, which looked +upon the borders in question. William was aware of her presence and of +the smiling impertinence of her glance. It may have been the sight of +her standing there in her scornful indifferent youth that accounted for +the connecting thought which caused him to lift his eyes with swift +suspicion to the window above the despoiled bed. Prudence, intercepting +the upward glance, felt her cheeks suddenly aglow. For the first time +since their disagreement he looked her fully in the face; then, with a +change of expression that was a studied insult, he looked away. + +"I don't think it is the work of a tramp," he said. "But I will inform +the police. If anyone is caught loafing about the premises I'll run him +in." + +And Prudence, gazing upon the outraged dignity of his retreating back, +laughed with considerable enjoyment. + +"If only he could see how ridiculous he looks!" she mused, and stepped +out upon the path, and gathered a wallflower head, which with an air of +bravado she pinned in the front of her dress. + +She regretted that she could not write to Steele and inform him of the +havoc he had wrought and the distress this caused the family. She wrote +instead to Bobby, describing in detail the whole surprising event of +Steele's visit and its result; and Bobby, whose letters she was +permitted to receive uncensored, commented briefly upon the episode and +added that he would jolly well like to punch the fellow's head. Bobby's +incipient jealousy was always taking fire when anyone loomed on +Prudence's horizon with a prominence which threatened to eclipse his own +popularity; and this matter of Steele, it occurred to him while reading +Prudence's frankly worded enthusiasms, was more serious than anything +that had transpired hitherto in the youthful experiences of his aunt. +There was just sufficient Graynor blood in his veins to excite +resentment in him at the thought of Prudence hanging out of the window +to talk with any fellow in the night; but he was wise enough not to put +that on paper. His want of sympathy, however, disappointed Prudence. +For the first time in her life she caught herself wondering whether +there was a latent possibility for Bobby of development upon his uncle's +lines. But she put this idea aside as absurd; Bobby was the son of his +father, and his father had flung off the family yoke early, and gone +away and married a penniless girl of no family, and never repented. +That was what Prudence admired most in him, that he had never solicited +the forgiveness which was not voluntarily extended. That was how she +would act in similar circumstances. + +When in due course Bobby came home for the summer vacation, Prudence +made a strange discovery; she could not, she found, discuss Steele with +him. It had been easy to write, with the excitement of the experience +fresh in her memory, of the pleasure of Steele's visit and the stresses +that ensued; but in the interval she had thought much about Steele, and +missed him increasingly; and now she found it not only difficult but +impossible to speak of him without constraint and a certain shyness +foreign to her nature and oddly disconcerting. When Bobby referred to +the fellow she had written to him about, she disposed of the matter +briefly. + +"Oh, that!" she said. "That's ancient history. Lots of duller things +have happened since and put that in the background." + +"The new curate!" suggested Bobby, grinning. "The chap who is +fluttering the dovecots on account of his being unmarried. You devoted +several letters to him, I remember. What's he like?" + +"He's a little man in a big coat and a big hat," she answered. "What +can be seen of him is quite nice, but it isn't much. There must be a +brain of sorts under the hat, but it's little too. His chief +idiosyncrasy is that he fancies himself all brain. Mrs North is trying +to marry her daughter to him." + +"And he prefers you," commented Bobby... "naturally." + +Prudence smiled wickedly. + +"He says it is the duty of a curate with only his stipend to depend upon +to marry a woman of independent means. I think myself he will marry +Matilda. He would like to belong to the family; the factory attracts +him." + +"Money-grubbing little worm!" said Bobby, who was barely a year younger +than Prudence and presumed on that account to set aside her more +responsible relationship. "I wish he would marry Aunt Agatha. That +would be something of a lark." + +"Poor little man!" said Prudence. "He's not so impossible as all that. +And he is horribly afraid of her. She makes him stammer." + +Bobby laughed outright. + +"We're all horribly afraid of her. That's the funny part of it. And +yet, you know, if one turned round and cheeked her she'd crumple up. +I'll do it one day." + +Prudence regarded him with increased respect. + +"I hope I'll be there," was all she said. + +CHAPTER NINE. + +Bobby made the acquaintance of the curate very soon after that talk. +They met for the first time at the vicarage garden party, which, +according to an invariable rule, was held on Mrs North's birthday. +This enabled the vicar's wife to display her birthday gifts, exciting by +their numerical strength rather than their quality envy in the breasts +of those guests less favoured in the matter of tokens of esteem on the +important day which by right of precedent we appropriate to ourselves, +and causing embarrassment to the more neglectful of her visitors by this +reminder of a custom ignored. + +She made little self-depreciatory remarks in displaying these absurd +articles, which wore in most instances an appearance of having come from +some bazaar stall and a dejected air of expectation that eventually they +would return thither by reason of their uselessness, and be sold and +resold at extortionate prices for charitable ends. + +When one tired of viewing the gifts one wandered about the garden and +admired the flowers, and a few of the younger people played tennis. The +vicar hovered on the outskirts and smiled with remote affability upon +every one. He discussed eighteenth century art with anyone who would +listen to him. He claimed to be an authority on eighteenth century art, +and possessed a few pictures which he had dug out of second-hand +dealers' shops and bought for a trifle on account of their doubtful +authenticity. He led the way triumphantly to his study where these +treasures were hung, and discoursed learnedly on Humphreys, and other +artists of that period, while he showed his canvasses to a listless, +uninterested, and uninformed audience, who had seen most of them before. +One crude portrait, that resembled a bad imitation of the Hamilton, he +pronounced to be a Romney. No one believed him. It is doubtful whether +he believed it himself; the dealer who had sold it to him had lied +without conviction. But the possession of even a questionable Romney +afforded him a sense of artistic importance. His collection was, he +asserted, very valuable. He had insured it for a figure which would +have tempted many people to the mean crime of arson: there were moments, +when the vicar was harassed and the Easter offering had proved +disappointing, when he gazed upon this comfortable asset lining his +walls and decided that if Providence saw fit to raze his dwelling to the +ground he would bear his loss with Christian fortitude and take a +holiday abroad on the proceeds. + +Bobby, as one of the younger guests, enjoying also the doubtful +privilege of being one of the two bachelors of the party--the other +being the curate--was spared a review of the pictures and carried off to +the tennis court by Mable North and several middle-aged spinsters, who +cheated themselves into the deception that because romance had not been +met in their youth, youth lay before instead of behind them, and saw in +every unattached male a suppliant for their favour or an object for +their womanly sympathy. Why country parishes beget these women remains +an unsolved problem, but that they do beget them is very certain--women +who cherish sickly sentimentality beyond the time for its decent +interment and who look down on their sturdier sisters of a busier +atmosphere as unsexed for putting the impossible aside and seeking a +justification for their existence in an independence apart from these +things. + +Bobby played several sets of tennis with various partners of doubtful +efficiency, opposed to the curate with a similar inadequate support who +beseeched him plaintively to take her balls whenever they pitched a yard +from her racket. And then the two young men insisted upon a rest, and +sat on a bench a little apart from the feminine element and took stock +of one another. Prudence and a dispirited-looking woman of uncertain +age played a set against Mable North and the Sunday-school lady +superintendent, who was stout and forty and of a practical turn of mind. +She rather preferred playing in a feminine foursome. The curate had +eyes only for Prudence. It is doubtful whether he knew who else was on +the court. + +"Your cousin is so graceful," he remarked to Bobby in an undertone. And +Bobby, interrupted in the business of observing the curate's infatuated +glances, brought himself up sharply and allowed his surprised gaze to +follow his companion's. + +"My--Oh! my aunt. Yes, she's ripping, isn't she?" + +"The relationship seems so absurd," the curate said, with his eyes on +Bobby's long legs. "I always confuse it." + +"Yes," Bobby agreed. "I might as well be a grandfather as she my aunt. +There's not a year's difference between us." + +He offered his cigarette case to the curate, who declined the invitation +to smoke. + +"It is such a mistake to drug the brain," he said. + +"It's so difficult," Bobby returned cheerfully, "to know whether one has +a brain to drug." + +"Oh! I don't think anyone can have any doubt about that," the curate +returned seriously. + +"No," Bobby agreed. "It is generally the other people who entertain +doubts." + +He lighted himself a cigarette and slipped the case into his pocket. + +"Prudence smokes--like a furnace," he added--"whenever she gets the +chance." + +Smokes! and surreptitiously! The curate was horrified. + +"You are joking surely?" he said. + +"Not much of a joke, when I have to supply the fags." Bobby looked +amused. "We have to be mighty close about it. _I_ am not allowed to +smoke in the Presence." So he designated Miss Agatha. + +"But we moon about the garden at night and enjoy ourselves." + +"Well played!" cried the curate enthusiastically, and ignored Bobby's +confidence in his warm admiration for Prudence's spirited return. "That +was very neatly placed indeed," he said. + +"Prudence is a very deceptive player. She always scores through +trickery," Bobby observed, and watched the effect of this remark on his +disapproving listener. "Nothing very brilliant about her play, you may +note; but she wins all the time." + +"She is so very graceful," the curate said again, as though this quality +was accounted a virtue in his estimation, as probably it was. + +"He's an awful ass, Prue," Bobby confided to her later. "And I've +spoilt your matrimonial chances by telling him you smoke." + +Whereupon Prudence laughed sceptically. + +"As though I couldn't counteract that by allowing him to convert me from +the evil practice," she said. + +"I think you are an abandoned little wretch," Bobby said, and dismissed +the subject. It was so very evident that the curate as a rival for +Prudence's favour was a negligible quantity. + +"Pretty tame, these old tabby meetings," Bobby remarked presently. "Why +don't they do something in this benighted hole?" + +"That's what I am always wondering. I am looking to you to come home +and wake the place up." + +"Paint it red?" he suggested, grinning. + +"Paint it any colour, save the drab hues which at present disfigure it. +There isn't any earthly reason why people should remain satisfied to be +so dull. What are you going to do when you come home to settle?" + +"Well, the first thing I shall do will be to marry--in order to get away +from the Court," he replied with decision. "I refuse to be aunt-pecked +any longer than necessity demands." + +"Does that include me?" Prudence inquired with irony. + +"You! Oh Lord!" He threw back his head and laughed. "You can come +along and share my emancipation." + +"Thank you." Prudence's small chin was elevated, her lip curled +disdainfully. "I shall contrive my own emancipation," she said. + +"How?" he asked, suddenly interested. + +"By marriage also," she answered, and laughed and broke from his +detaining hand and fled indoors. + +Bobby looked after her in perplexity. + +"By Jove! I had forgotten that chap," he reflected, and recalled her +earlier confidences with suddenly awakened suspicion and a mind not a +little disturbed. He had been joking. Possibly Prudence had been +joking also. But Wortheton without her would be a drear hole, he +decided; and Wortheton and the factory were his ultimate and inevitable +lot. + +And yet he did not wish her to remain unmarried. His five spinster +aunts and the unmarried women he had met that afternoon, hovering +hungrily about the little curate, sickened him. Prudence had no place +in that gallery. She was altogether too fine and too clever to be +wasted in the narrow seclusion of this life which she led with such +evident distaste. Of course she would marry and go away. That was the +chief point; she would go away. It didn't after all seem to matter who +the fellow was, so long as he was a decent sort of chap and could +provide for her an appreciate her qualities of beauty and intellect. If +he didn't appreciate her--so Bobby philosophised--it would be a case of +out of the frying-pan into the fire; but whoever it was got into the +flames, the young man felt comfortably assured it would not be Prudence. +She would contrive her emancipation more thoroughly than that. + +"I wish I had asked her more about that fellow," he mused. + +But he recognised that the time for asking questions was past. + +CHAPTER TEN. + +"I've been thinking," Bobby remarked one evening to Prudence, when they +strolled up the road together in the dusk, "about our talk the other +afternoon; and I've come to the conclusion that it's not the fault of +the place, it's our own fault, that we find life dull. One place is +much like another. Either we want too much, or else we are dull in +ourselves and can't get the enjoyment out of life that is there for our +taking. That's what I make of it anyhow." + +Prudence considered this. + +"Possibly I want too much--I think I do," she said after a while. "And +so do you. We are the children of our age, Bobby; we've learnt to think +for ourselves; when one begins to think one ceases to accept things +unquestioningly. I'm alive to my finger tips. I want to enjoy. I am +not satisfied merely to exist; a worm does that. I want to experience +life to the full. Don't you?" + +"I suppose I do," Bobby agreed--"when you put it that way." + +Prudence was triumphant. + +"There you are, you see. It's just the way a thing is put. For the +moment you almost convinced me that the discontent lay in myself, and +now I convince you that there is substantial ground for discontent. No +one should remain quiet under dissatisfying conditions; we should each +strive for individual liberty. Youth is the time in which to do things, +and youth passes quickly. When we are old we cease to strive because +the spirit of adventure leaves us; but the hunger for the things which +we have missed remains. And that makes us bitter." + +"How do you know?" demanded Bobby, with a cynical smile for her youth. + +"Know!" she repeated, and faced him, her eyes alight and scornful. "One +has only to look around and note the disappointed, dull, sour people one +meets; people who have had their chance and missed it, because they +reasoned as you do; people who have not possessed courage or initiative, +but in whose blood the desire for enjoyment has worked as surely as it +works in ours. Do you suppose Agatha has never wanted to marry and +manage a man and a home of her own? Do you suppose Matilda doesn't +hunger for children, and Mary for a lover? Didn't daddy desire love? +He married twice, and the second time at least was not merely a matter +of expediency. I'm colder perhaps, harder anyway. I don't want +anything but just to get away from Wortheton and live my own life +independently, and order my days as I please." + +Bobby stared at her open-mouthed, bereft in his astonishment of the +power of speech. Prudence suddenly laughed. + +"You old thing!" she cried. "I've properly scandalised you. Why do you +set my thoughts working along these lines? You are just a boy." + +"Oh, shut it!" he ejaculated. "You aren't much older." + +"A girl is a lot older than a boy," she said. "She apprehends life more +fully; your sex, until you are a responsible age, is just out for fun. +But there's a time limit to one's capacity for enjoyment. In a few +years I shall settle down to the routine, whatever it is that offers; +and if I haven't had my good time, I'll just be a discontented dull +reflection of the others. I know. And I'm going to guard against +that." + +"But how?" he persisted. "What do you mean to do?" + +"I haven't thought that out," Prudence answered after a moment for +reflection. "I don't know that I should confide in you if I had." + +He smiled at that, and stopped and lighted himself a cigarette. + +"I don't care what you do," he said, and added cheerfully: "I only hope +you will have a good time. You know you're awfully pretty, Prue, and-- +and interesting, and all that." + +"Am I?" Prudence laughed again, and there was a note of satisfaction in +her mirth. "I thank Providence that I am pretty; it makes things +easier. But if I were plain I should still insist on my good time. It +doesn't necessarily include the homage of man. That's a side issue. It +is sometimes a means to an end, but the end is the thing which matters. +I want my own individual life." + +"I don't want any own individual life like that," Bobby confessed in +thoughtful seriousness. "I want a home of my own, of course, and--a +wife, and all those jolly things." + +"At seventeen?" she scoffed. + +And then he confided to her that he had met the divinity he hoped to +marry at the home of a school chum. She was nearly as old as he was, +and she was quite prepared to marry him as soon as circumstances +permitted. She was a ripping good sort and very high spirited. + +"You had better invite her to stay at Wortheton before the ceremony," +Prudence advised him. "If that doesn't put her off, you'll be sure of +her genuine affection anyway." + +"I'm sure of that now," he returned confidently. + +"You've made good use of your time," was all she said. + +His words, the ring in his young voice, called up a mental picture of a +strong clear-cut face looking up at her in the uncertain light of a +moonlit night in May. She felt that somehow Bobby had outdistanced her. + +"Here we are," she exclaimed abruptly, "you and I, mooning, as we've +mooned for years whenever the vacation came round. When we were +children we mooned along and talked of splendid things--the things we +meant to do, the positions we could create for ourselves in a world that +was open and defenceless to our attacks; and now we moon sentimentally +and talk of love instead." + +"But that's splendid too," he affirmed with young enthusiasm. + +"Is it? ... I wonder. I think perhaps it's just a little disappointing +also... moonshine, like the rest." + +"Rot!" said Bobby elegantly. "Something's changed you, Prue--or some +one... Which?" + +"The curate perhaps," Prudence returned flippantly. "Marriage with him +would not be moonshine exactly, but it would be a trifle dull--just the +distractions which the parish offered, and on Sundays his sermons to +listen to." + +"There would be stimulation in the way of jealousy," Bobby suggested +helpfully. "Think of all those women who work braces for him and lounge +slippers. You'd have to compete, you know." + +"They cease all that when the curates marry," Prudence returned with +disgust. "If they only kept it up there would be some excitement +offering; but they don't." + +She turned and began to retrace her steps. + +"Goodness knows how we got on this topic! Your brain is love-sick, +Bobby, and you're infecting me. If my memory serves me, there have been +three ideal girls in your life already--and one of them was Mabel +North." + +"Oh! that," said Bobby, colouring, "was all rot. This is the real +thing." + +"It's always the real thing till the newer attraction comes along. You +needn't resent that; it's true not only in your case. We are unstable +as the waters which start from infinitesimal raindrops and run down in +flood to the sea." + +Bobby chuckled. + +"Your image doesn't apply aptly to every one," he said. "One can't +think of Uncle William in connexion with all that broiling strife." + +"Oh!" Prudence made a gesture which conveyed fairly adequately her +contempt for the person referred to. "Some raindrops form into puddles, +and the puddles cheat themselves into believing that they are the sea, +and ridicule the idea of any expansion beyond their own muddy limits. +William's is a complete little destiny in itself. And he never suspects +the mud at the bottom because he never stirs it up." + +"How can you be sure of that?" Bobby inquired. "You are taking it too +much for granted that the old boy's life is lived on the surface. He +takes his annual holiday." + +"Well!" said Prudence, and turned her head and surveyed his grinning +countenance with mixed emotions. "That's the most evil suggestion I've +heard from you. I'm not fond of brother William, but I think you ought +to be ashamed of yourself." + +He only laughed. + +"There's a bit of the old Adam in him as well as in the rest of us, I +imagine," he said, and drew her hand within his arm affectionately. + +Thus, walking closely, they pursued their way along the dim country road +which their childish feet had trodden and made familiar in its every +aspect; which knew too the steadier tramp of their adolescent youth, and +which in the near future was to know but seldom the lighter tread of the +girl, whose feet stirred the unconscious dust that in the years ahead +would lie undisturbed by her passing, when, in the pursuance of her +destiny, the confined vista of her childhood, with its sense of security +and dulness, should have become an elusive memory of drab and peaceful +things. + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +With Bobby's return to college, life for Prudence reverted to the old +dreary routine of ceaseless exasperating duties and increasingly +curtailed liberty. She had a strong suspicion that the sisterly +supervision which she was conscious was being exercised was carried out +at brother William's suggestion. Although there was no one, with the +exception of the curate, to tempt her to indiscreet behaviour it was +very obvious that she was not trusted to venture abroad without one of +her sisters to chaperon her. + +Prudence found this irksome at first, and set herself, sometimes +successfully, to evade their united vigilance; but after one or two +apparently accidental encounters with the curate, who appeared +astonishingly in the most unexpected places and joined her on her stolen +walks, she accepted the new development with a meekness which agreeably +surprised her family, and discomfited the curate. + +It was the curate's quietly resolved manner, his air of exaggerated +conspiracy, that drove Prudence to this unusual submissiveness. She +knew quite well that the little man was making up his mind to propose to +her, and she did not wish to give him the opportunity. Her decision was +taken abruptly, after meeting him one day on the high road along which +she was walking briskly with her back to the tall chimneys and her face +to the wind and the little village which lay half-way between Wortheton +and the junction town which connected it with the busier world from +which it held aloof. The curate was cycling from the opposite +direction. He was due to attend a meeting within the half-hour and had +barely time to arrive at the appointed place; but when he came face to +face with Prudence he alighted nimbly from his machine, and, pulling off +a heather mixture glove, extended an eager hand. For a moment she +allowed him to hold hers in his grip, and found herself wondering while +she faced him which of his admirers had knitted the gloves for him. +Then she withdrew her hand and remarked, for the lack of something more +interesting to say, that the wind was boisterous. + +"Yes," he said; "you have it against you. Why not face about? It's a +great help at one's back." + +This suggestion Prudence considered artful without being brilliant. She +had no desire for his company on the return journey. + +"I love to feel it in my face," she said. "And since you prefer it +behind it is well we are travelling in opposite directions." + +But the curate was not to be disposed of so easily. He turned his cycle +and fell into step beside her. Prudence was taller than he; he was +obliged to look up from under the wide brim of his hat when regarding +her, a reversal of the usual order which occasioned him secret vexation. + +"One so seldom gets a chance of seeing you alone," he said. "I suppose +it is because you are so much younger that your sisters make so much of +you. They care for you tremendously. It is beautiful to observe their +devotion." + +This view of her family's watchful mistrust as a manifest sign of their +devotion was new to Prudence and afforded her amusement. She wondered +whether he was altogether sincere in what he said, or if he were +indulging in unsuspected satire. + +"I find it a little trying sometimes to be the family pet," she returned +demurely. "The position is rather like that of the cat of the house +which gets called indoors when it would prefer to remain in the garden. +I wonder myself at times why the cat obeys the summons." + +He experienced a little difficulty in following her train of thought. + +"It's thinking of the milk, I suppose," he suggested, whereat Prudence +laughed. + +"I dare say that explains it--economic dependence explains many +uncomfortable things. I haven't much sympathy with the domesticated +cat," she added. "She should ignore the call, and remain in the garden +and eat birds." + +"Surely," he said, a little pained, "you wouldn't wish it to do that? +It's so cruel." + +"So is eating mutton," she answered flippantly; "but we all do it." + +He digested this for a moment, found no adequate answer, and turned the +conversation. + +"I was thinking of you as I rode," he said, in tones into which he threw +an inflection of tenderness which she could not fail to detect. "I +scarcely dared to expect so much happiness as to meet you like this. +You are a tremendous walker. Do you realise how far you are from home?" + +He still hoped to induce her to turn and walk back with him. He would +be late for his meeting in any case. He was too mentally flurried to +decide how he should explain the defection: he was not very ready at +invention; but the sight of Prudence's fair indifferent face drove him +to the verge of recklessness; no consideration at the moment was strong +enough to tear him from her side. + +"The farther the better," Prudence answered. "I am walking into the +sunset." She turned her face to the westering sun and the warm glow in +the sky that lit its declining glory. "When I turn about I see only the +chimneys; they blot out everything for me." + +"But one can't see them from this distance," he insisted, and paused and +looked back to verify his statement. + +Prudence smiled faintly. + +"I can," she said. "I see them even in my dreams." + +"I think myself they look rather fine," he said. "The red bricks +against the trees are arresting." + +"Yes," she agreed, and smiled at him more directly. He felt that he had +struck a happy note and was unnecessarily elated. + +"All great industries appeal to me," he continued as they walked on +again. "I'm tremendously interested in the factory--and in the +workpeople. They are so human and yet simple. I enjoy working among +them. And Mr Graynor is so generous. The workpeople think very highly +of him. I have been very happy in my labours since coming here." + +Prudence, missing the guile in this, looked at him in astonishment. + +"Really!" she said. "You are easily pleased." + +"You think so?" He drew a little nearer to her; his disengaged hand, +hanging at his side, brushed lightly against hers. "I don't think that +myself. But you see I have met much kindness here, and--forgive my +saying so--it is such a happiness in itself to know you. I doubt +whether you understand what a priceless pleasure that is to me." + +"It is very flattering of you to say so," Prudence broke in hastily, and +not so much turned the conversation as jerked it into an impersonal +channel. "Look at that gorgeous splash of red on those clouds. Isn't +it just as though they were catching fire?" + +"Yes," he said in a flattened voice, feeling the rebuff; "it's very +fine." + +"Isn't it? And that warm light on the trees... You can see it +spreading along the branches. They're all aglow. If it could only +last!" + +"`The light of the whole world dies when day is done,'" quoted the +curate sentimentally, and gazed in rapt admiration upon her face which +was all aglow too, but owed nothing of its colour to the sunset. "You +look like one inspired," he added. "I wish I could sketch you as I see +you now." + +Prudence made an impatient movement. + +"I don't believe you care a bit for beautiful scenery," she said. + +"I do," he assured her eagerly. "I admire everything beautiful. I... +Never mind the sunset now. I'm thinking of you. I can't think of +anything else. I want to--" + +"Oh!" she interrupted, with a note of sharp relief in her voice, and +turned an embarrassed face in the direction of a solitary pedestrian, +who appeared opportunely round a bend in the road, and slowly advanced, +bearing a bundle in her arms, which at first the girl failed to +recognise for an infant, wrapped in an old shawl. "There's some one I +want to speak to," she said, and blessed Bessie Clapp for her timely +appearance--"some one I know." + +"I'll wait," he said, still resolute though considerably ruffled at the +interruption. + +Prudence regarded him frowningly. + +"No," she insisted, "you mustn't wait. I want to see her alone. I +shall walk back with her." + +"That isn't altogether kind," he said--"to dismiss me. But I may see +you another time?" + +He held out his hand and waited. If he expected a direct answer to his +tentative suggestion, he was disappointed. Prudence shook hands +hurriedly, murmured a breathless good-bye, and left him to mount his +cycle and ride in unclerical mood to his neglected meeting, where he +accounted for his unpunctuality by confessing to a puncture which he +omitted to explain was caused by a thorn which he had painstakingly +placed in the road and ridden over when a quarter of a mile from the +town. Which proves what an amount of trouble a conscientious person +will take in the insincere evasion of a direct lie. + +Prudence meanwhile advanced to meet the girl in the road. As the +distance between them decreased she discovered that what the other +carried in her arms was not an inanimate bundle, as she had supposed, +but a little child. Instantly her interest quickened. The unexpected +appearance of Bessie Clapp had seemed to her merely opportune at a +moment when any diversion would have been welcome, but the sight of +Bessie with a baby in her arms--presumably her own baby--caught her +attention away from her immediate concerns and brought the other's +affairs into greater prominence. She had always believed that this girl +had been hardly dealt by, and no one had ever considered it worth while +to enlighten her. Prudence's sense of justice was in arms, and her +liking for Bessie, whom she had known from childhood, awoke anew at +sight of the beautiful tragic face with its look of passionate +antagonism. She halted in the girl's path and accosted her with +disarming friendliness. + +"I'm so glad to meet you," she said. "I thought you had left this +neighbourhood altogether." + +"There are some as would like to make me leave," said Bessie Clapp, her +dark unsmiling gaze on the fair tranquillity of the younger, happier +face. "I've been badgered enough. We'm living in the little village +down over the hill." + +"Just five miles away! And I never knew." Prudence bent suddenly over +the bundle in her arms. "Is this your child?" she asked. + +"Yes; he's mine." + +There was proprietorship but no pride in the admission. It was +Prudence's hand which pulled the covering away from the tiny face. + +"Oh!" she said, and half drew back, and then bent again compassionately +over the ugly little mottled piece of humanity in the beautiful young +mother's arms. "I've never seen so young a baby before. What do you +call him?" + +"He isn't christened," the sullen voice responded. "I've no patience +with those silly customs." + +"But," began Prudence, and looked perplexed, "he'll have to have a name +of his own some time." + +"We call 'im William," the young mother volunteered. "There's no need +for cold water splashing over that. If 'e don't like 'is name later on, +'e can change it." + +Prudence, steering away from the subject, replaced the shawl over the +little face and impulsively held out her arms. + +"Let me carry him," she said. "I'd love to; and you are tired. Where +were you taking him?" + +"To the farm yonder, among the trees. I get milk for 'im there. 'E's +been weaned these three weeks." + +The exchange from the girl-mother's arms to the younger arms extended +eagerly to receive their burden was effected silently. Prudence walked +on proudly, bearing her unaccustomed charge with a sense of new +responsibility suddenly acquired. She loved the feel of the little warm +body against her heart; the nestling pressure of this soft helpless +thing, which lay so confidingly within the shelter of her arms, roused +in her the strong protective maternal instinct which is every woman's +heritage. In her pity for its puny helplessness she forgot the sense of +shock which the first glimpse of the repellently ugly wrinkled face had +occasioned her, forgot the circumstances of its unfortunate birth, and +the more recent revelation that it had not been received into the +Church, was not in any sense of the term a Christian; she realised only +that she held in her arms that most wonderful of all things, a new +generation; and felt in her heart the warm glow of protective love for +this weak little morsel of humanity, born into an unwelcoming world--a +love child who was denied love. The unfair conditions of the child's +birth awoke her utmost compassion. She felt resentful against its +unknown father, against the injustice of the world's judgment, which +throws discredit on maternity rather than on illicit love. The greatest +crime of this unwedded mother, Prudence recognised, lay in the fact that +she had brought a child into the world. + +"He must be a great comfort to you," she said gently. "A baby makes up +for a lot." + +Bessie Clapp laughed harshly. + +"Ban't many as think like you," she said. "They wouldn't agree with you +at Court Heatherleigh." + +And Prudence, thinking of Agatha, and Matilda's pink shocked face, of +brother William's austere principles, and her father's cold disapproval +at the mere mention of Bessie's name, could not contradict this. They +would have been scandalised, and she knew it, could they have seen her +walking with this outcast, and carrying the outcast's baby in her strong +young arms. + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +The meeting with Bessie Clapp set Prudence's mind working in new +directions. She realised, with an immense pity and a growing wonder for +the complexities of human emotions, that this girl, whose motherhood had +come to her in circumstances which the world surrounds with contumely +and disgrace, had no love for the child of her unlawful passion. She +had allowed Prudence to discover that. But for the fear of consequent +punishment, she had admitted with bitterness that she would do away with +the baby. She confessed too to a hatred of its father. + +Prudence wondered whether this unnatural dislike for her own offspring +resulted from the shame with which its birth had covered her, or was the +inevitable consequence of the revulsion of feeling which had swept from +her heart every kindly emotion which must have drawn her once towards +the man she now professed aversion for. The man who had injured her had +a lot to answer for. If ever it lay in her power to hurt him in return +it was fairly certain that she would not hesitate to use her +opportunity. The silence which she maintained in regard to his name was +no guarantee of a wish to shield him; it suggested rather a caution +which awaited its hour to strike. + +The meeting left Prudence with a feeling of depression. It did not +decrease her pity, but it lessened her liking for the girl to discover +her attitude of bitter resentment against the helpless mite she had +brought into the world. And it set her thinking about marriage in a new +light. Was it possible to cease to love a man one had loved once +passionately? And could a woman grow to hate the children of a loveless +marriage? If these matters were beyond the control of human will power, +it seemed that it might be so. Here was an example of it anyway, though +it might be a bad example. Until that talk with Bessie Clapp it had +never occurred to Prudence that a woman could dislike her own child. It +was one of the inexplicable problems of life. + +Prudence reached home to discover that she was late. Miss Agatha met +her in the hall, already dressed for the evening meal, which was the +most important function of the day, and at which no one was expected to +put in a tardy appearance. Miss Agatha glanced from the warning face of +the great clock at the foot of the staircase to the sweet flushed face +of her young sister, and from thence to her dust-soiled shoes. + +"Where have you been?" she demanded. "Don't you see the time?" + +"I'll hurry," Prudence answered. "It won't take me three minutes to +change. I've been for a tramp." + +"You have a deceitful habit," Miss Agatha admonished her, "of slipping +away from the house without informing anyone. If you were less selfish +it might occur to you that your sisters would like to accompany you +occasionally. I can't understand why you prefer to walk alone." + +"I shall be late," Prudence said, with her foot on the stair, "if I stay +to go into that now." + +And with a rebellious face she ran upstairs, leaving Miss Agatha, aghast +and indignant, looking up from the foot of the staircase after her +vanishing figure. Prudence was getting altogether out of hand. + +"She tramps the country," William affirmed on learning the trouble, +"like a factory girl. I won't have my sister making herself so +noticeable--mooning about the lanes and hanging over stiles. It--it +isn't respectable." + +"I wish," Miss Agatha said, meanly shifting responsibility, "that you +would put your foot down. If you were firm she might possibly respect +your wishes. I can do nothing with her." + +"M'm!" William coughed gently, and assumed an expression which he hoped +conveyed the air of inflexibility he deemed suited to the responsible +position thus conferred on him. "I'll see to it," he said; and felt +relieved when the gong sounded in advance of Prudence's entry, and so +deferred the moment for exercising his authority. + +He was less confident than Agatha that firmness on his part would +produce the result desired. He had in mind the occasion when he had +insisted upon an apology before the resumption of fraternal relations +with his young sister. He had maintained a dignified silence until the +thing threatened to become ridiculous, and still the apology had not +been forthcoming: he had been forced to capitulate; and the memory of +that defeat rankled. But the lesson had been salutary in so far that it +discouraged him from straining his authority to a point whence it +aggravated to open revolt. Defiance was a quality which defeated +William's statesmanship. + +Prudence came running down the stairs as the rest of the family crossed +the hall on the way to the dining-room. + +"You ran it pretty close, Prue," her father said, as she took the last +couple of stairs at a jump and landed laughing beside him. He patted +the little hand she slipped within his arm. + +"You are precisely two minutes late," Miss Agatha observed. "I think +you might have made a greater effort to be punctual." + +"I might, of course, have slid down the banisters," Prudence retorted. + +"Tut, tut!" Mr Graynor patted the small hand again in gentle reproof. +"You are tomboy enough without scandalising us to that extent." + +Save that he held his head a little higher on passing behind her to his +seat at table, William disregarded her presence, a sign by which +Prudence recognised that she was once again in disgrace. It occasioned +her therefore something of a shock when William approached her later +during the evening and requested a few minutes of her time. He had +something of importance, he announced, which he wished to say. This +request in its unexpectedness deprived her for the moment of breath. +She was attracted by his speech and puzzled. She found herself +wondering amazedly what kind of confidence William intended to repose in +her. William found her silence embarrassing; he had expected her to +give him a cue. He cleared his throat, nervously fingering the +arrangement of his tie. Prudence began to feel sympathetic. She +believed he was about to confess to some romantic attachment, although +there was not, so far as she knew, any woman of their acquaintance +likely to inspire sentiment in him. If William were in love, that might +account for his preoccupation during dinner. + +"Please give me your whole attention," he said, which was a superfluous +remark even for a commencement; it was so obvious that he was receiving +what he asked for. "It is a little difficult for me, a little--ahem!-- +embarrassing to say what I wish to say in view of your inexperience." + +This confirmed Prudence's suspicion. She smiled at him encouragingly. + +"Oh! I expect I'll understand," she said kindly. "It's nice of you to +tell me, anyhow." + +He was taken aback, and he showed it. He had never known Prudence so +amenable before; her attitude discountenanced him slightly. + +"I am glad you take so sensible a tone," he returned; "it makes my task +easier. I do not wish to find fault; your conduct is indiscreet rather +than blameworthy. You ought to realise that it is not seemly for a +young girl in your position to tear about the country as you do. I am +not sure that in a factory town it is altogether safe. In any case it +gets you talked about. It distresses your sisters; it distresses me. +It lays you open to misapprehension. Why should you wander about the +roads alone?" + +"Oh! Is that all?" Prudence's smile had changed in quality; kindliness +made way for irony. "How do you know I do wander alone?" William +reddened angrily. + +"I should be sorry to insult you by supposing the contrary," he replied +with restrained annoyance. "No one in this house credits you with being +other than thoughtless. Your behaviour shows a great want of +consideration for your family." + +"It wasn't until to-day that I realised you were all so devoted to me," +Prudence returned with suspicious meekness. "I have yet to get +accustomed to that idea. So much family affection is embarrassing." + +"If you are going to adopt that outrageous tone," William observed with +a resumption of dignity, "I have nothing further to say." + +"Don't worry about that," Prudence reassured him. "You haven't left +much unsaid. You have filled my mind with a lot of new ideas that make +it feel like a rubbish heap. If the roads are not safe for a girl to +walk along, it is time some one saw to it that they were made so. As +for being talked about, no one with a decent mind would make matter for +talk where there was none. Are you quite sure, William, that your own +mind doesn't need a little tidying up? Your workpeople at least are +your responsibility. If you have any dubious characters among them, +turn them away--as you turned away Bessie Clapp." + +William's face was crimson. He rose and stood looking down at her with +the look of a man who feels himself deeply insulted. + +"You forget yourself," he said. "How dare you mention that woman's name +to me?" + +"I have held that woman's child in my arms to-day," she answered +quietly. "I think perhaps that gives me the courage." + +He bent swiftly and caught her by the shoulder. + +"So that's how you spend your time?" he said, staring into her steady +eyes. He emitted an ugly laugh and pushed her roughly from him. "A +decent-minded girl would shrink from such contact." + +She smiled coldly. + +"It is only the decent mind that does not fear these things," she +answered, and turned away from the look in his eyes, which was not good +to see. + +It was by a great effort at control that he refrained from striking her. +He spluttered for words. Confronted with her cool disdain, anger +overcame him. He felt himself at an immense disadvantage. + +"You are impossible!" was all he could find to say. + +Prudence, thinking over the scene later, while leaning from her window +with the night wind cooling her heated face, wondered what was wrong +with herself that this spirit of antagonism should flame forth at the +slightest provocation. Why could she not endure William, and suffer his +little homilies with patience? Why should Agatha's constant +fault-finding irritate her to the verge of desperation? If she were +possessed of a vein of humour, she told herself, these things would +merely afford amusement. But they did not amuse. They were slowly +souring a naturally sweet disposition. + +Big tears welled in the blue eyes, hung for a space on her lashes, and +fell like silver dew upon the rose-leaves beneath the sill--hot tears +that sprang from the well of discontent which had its source in a vain +longing for unattainable things. + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +The troubles of youth are none the less real because to riper age they +appear trivial in the retrospect. In the constant fret against the +irksome restrictions of her life Prudence's sunny nature fought under +unequal conditions, with the result that the sun suffered many an +eclipse. In one of these depressed moods she wrote to Bobby to the +effect that she felt unequal to holding out until he came home for good, +and that if matters did not improve the desperation of the situation +would drive her to elope with the curate. + +"The sole consideration which deters me," she added, "is that Jones is +such an impossible name." + +"What's in a name?" Bobby wrote back airily. "You're safe, old girl, +if you jib at a little thing like that." + +The curate, failing to meet Prudence alone and wearying of being fenced +with, took a mean advantage of her at the annual Sunday-school treat, +and secluding her in a corner of the playing-field with her class of +infants, set the infants running races and came rather abruptly to his +point. + +"I love to watch you with little children," he remarked with +disconcerting suddenness. "You have such a wonderful sympathy with +them." + +"I like children," she answered guardedly; and tried to gather the +babies about her; but the curate was throwing sweets for them, and they +preferred scrambling for these to clinging to teacher's hands. There is +a time for everything. + +"So do I," he said, attentively scrutinising her averted face, and +admiring the fine colour in her cheeks which a new quality in his voice +had brought there. "Children in the home make home beautiful." + +He swept the field with his glance, and decided that his chance was +short-lived and might not come again. He plunged desperately. + +"I want to marry," he said, hurriedly, and threw a further quantity of +sweets to the children and turned more directly towards her. "I have +been waiting so long for an opportunity of saying this to you that you +will forgive me if I seem a little abrupt and choose my time +inopportunely. I never see you alone now. You cannot have failed to +observe how deeply in love I am. You are so sweet and gentle that I +feel you will be kind. I want a little encouragement." He paused +expectantly. "I may go on?" he asked, when she took no advantage of his +hesitation. "You will give me a little hope?" + +Prudence turned her face and met his eyes fully. There was no +possibility of mistaking his meaning. + +"No, please don't," she said. "I don't want you to say any more. I +hoped you would see it wasn't any use. I'm sorry." + +The curate although a vain man, had never felt very confident of winning +her. He wanted her quite urgently; but he was not so deeply in love +with Prudence as he was with himself, and the certainty of defeat +wounded his pride more than it wounded his feelings. He had no +intention of giving her the satisfaction of being in a position to say +that she had refused him. He dissembled meanly, congratulating himself +on the clever ambiguity with which he had worded his proposal. + +"I am sorry you have formed that opinion," he said, trying to keep the +chagrin he felt from betraying itself in his voice. "You are so much +with her that I believed you would enjoy her entire confidence, and I +was vain enough to expect a little encouragement. But I am not going to +accept your opinion as final. I shall make my appeal to her. Perhaps I +ought to have done so in the first instance; but a man feels naturally +diffident at these times." + +The play of expression on Prudence's face while she listened to his +stilted sentences was remarkable. He would have been very obtuse if he +believed that he succeeded in deceiving her. It was very evident that +she apprehended him very clearly. A little smile hovered about her +mouth when she replied to him. + +"If it is Matilda you allude to," she said, with an ambiguity equal to +his own, "I wish you all the success you deserve." + +He raised his hat gravely and left her, carrying the bag of sweets with +him, to the manifest disgust of the staring infants; and Prudence, +watching his hurrying little figure making its purposeful way through +the different groups in search of his unconscious quarry, laughed +quietly and without malice, despite his ungenerous effort to humiliate +her. + +"Now I shall have a new enemy in my brother-in-law," she reflected. "He +is marrying the chimneys. But Matilda will be too grateful to him to +resent that." + +Matilda was grateful. She was sufficiently overcome with the honour +thus conferred on her to satisfy even Mr Jones' colossal vanity. Mr +Jones accepted his triumph with becoming condescension; to describe his +air as elated would be misleading. His manner towards his affianced +wife, who was several years his senior, and had never been handsome, was +benevolently patronising. His courtship was business-like, and free +from those affectations of silly sentiment so unsuited to his calling. +If Miss Matilda regretted the lack of lover-like attentions, she +concealed her disappointment, clinging insistently to the belief that +everything that Ernest did was right and dignified. It would have been +unbecoming in a clergyman to be demonstrative. + +"I used to think," she confessed to Prudence in a moment of rare +confidence, "that it was you he admired. You remember how he used to +persist in accompanying us on our walks, and how he talked principally +with you? All the while he was thinking of me. He told me so. Isn't +it wonderful?" + +"He has the sense," Prudence answered, and kissed the flushed face +kindly, "to realise that you will make the best wife in the world for a +clergyman." + +And she thought of Bobby's epithet, "money-grubbing little worm," and +decided that it aptly fitted Ernest. + +Bobby chaffed her about the curate, affecting to believe she had +suffered a disappointment. + +Prudence did not confide in him the tale of the curate's duplicity; +loyalty to Matilda kept her silent on that subject. But her wrathful +disgust was roused on the day of Matilda's wedding, when Mr Jones, +claiming the privilege of a brother, caught her unprepared in the hall +and kissed her unsuspecting lips. + +"If you ever take such a liberty with me again," she said, white and +angry, "I will make you the laughing-stock of Wortheton." + +He assumed an air of dignity while conscious of looking ridiculous. Her +words, her tone in uttering them, lashed him into a rage of hatred that +cured him finally of any tender thought he had cherished in regard to +her. He spoke of her later to his wife as ill-mannered and ungentle of +temper, a description which, while holding it to be ungenerous, +occasioned Matilda considerable comfort. She had felt uneasily jealous +of Prudence at times, even during the days of her brief engagement. Mr +Jones had shown such predilection for the society of the younger sister +that Matilda, like Leah, was made to realise the humiliating position of +the substitute. Her faith in his uprightness did not allow of +disbelief; besides which his ill-natured criticism of her young sister +carried conviction; his tone expressed cordial dislike. + +"Fuller acquaintance with her reveals her more objectionable qualities," +he said. "I believed her to be a nice, simple girl, but she is +certainly not that." + +"Prudence is very warm-hearted," Matilda said weakly in defence of the +absent. "But father spoils her a little." + +"He makes a fool of her," was the bridegroom's unclerical retort. + +Thus Matilda left the home of her childhood, seated beside her husband +in the carriage which was to take them to the junction, and to the back +of which Bobby, with a sense of the eternal unfitness of things, had +tied one of Matilda's discarded shoes. Not even the thought of the +comfortable dowry which went with the gentle Matilda had the power to +lighten Mr Jones' lowering countenance during the long drive to the +station, and Mr Graynor had behaved with quite surprising generosity in +the matter of settlements. The hard ring in Prudence's voice, when she +had threatened to make a laughing-stock of him, the expression of +disgust on her white face, hit his pride hard. And he dared not offend +her further from the wholly unnecessary fear that she would put her +threat into execution. He knew that he had paid her marked attention, +and that Wortheton was aware of his preference. If she chose to spread +tales about him they would not lack credence. + +His frown deepened when he felt his wife's gloved hand timidly feeling +for his; then he roused himself with an effort and responded to the +gentle pressure of her fingers. + +"It's nervous work getting married," he said, with an uneasy laugh. +"The fuss and the crowd... every one staring. Phew!" + +Matilda sympathised with him; she had felt nervous also. + +"I'm glad it's over--oh! so very glad--and happy, dear." + +"Blithering ass, isn't he?" was Bobby's cheerful comment, when, turning +from watching the vanishing carriage, he found Prudence beside him, +looking unusually tall and womanly in her bridesmaid's dress of soft +blue, with a hat with cornflowers in it shading her face. "Come along, +and drink to their connubial bliss in another bumper of champagne." + +He filled her glass for her and one for himself. + +"Cheer up," he cried, and raising his glass, grinned at her over the +brim. "There are more Joneses than one in the sea. You needn't sport +the willow so openly. It's indecent. Here's to their health, wealth, +and happiness! It will be wealth for him, anyway--cute little beast!" + +Prudence became aware of her father surveying them from the doorway with +a tired smile on his bored and worried face. He had slipped away from +his guests, who lingered aimlessly on the lawn, and followed them +indoors. She persuaded him to take a seat beside her and drink a glass +of his own very excellent champagne. + +"It's jolly good stuff. You did them awfully well, sir," said Bobby +enthusiastically approving. "We've given Wortheton something to think +about. It'll be Prue's turn next." + +"There's plenty of time for Prudence," Mr Graynor said--"plenty of +time." + +He found himself looking at her in her unfamiliar dress, surprised, as +Bobby had been, by the womanliness he realised for the first time. It +disconcerted him. + +"Weddings are a nuisance; they upset the household," he said. "I wish +all these people would go." + +"They are like the wasps," said Bobby; "they'll hang about so long as +the grub's there. I'll go out and clear them off." + +He left the room by the window. Mr Graynor looked after him, and +meeting Prudence's eye, exchanged a smile with her. + +"The assurance of youth!" he remarked. "You and I, we've had enough of +them, Prue." He regarded her again more attentively. "That blue dress +is very becoming to you, my dear." + +Prudence flushed warmly. His appreciation recalled to her mind the +light of admiration in the curate's eyes, his quick hungry swoop towards +her, the eager furtiveness of his kiss--the first time that a man's lips +had touched hers, other than the members of her family. But he belonged +to the family in a sense--a wretched little hanger-on, catching at the +overflow from the Graynor pockets. + +"If it is becoming, I don't believe you like it very well," she said. + +"It makes you look old--perhaps that's why," he answered, and thought +with regret of the little girl who had given place to this tall and +gracious young woman. + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +Matilda's departure from the family circle made strangely little +difference. She had made no particular place for herself in the home +which she had occupied for thirty years, had established no claim on any +member of her family. If anyone missed her, it was Prudence: Matilda +had been the most amiable of her elder sisters; but she had never been +in any sense of the word a companion. The first Mrs Graynor's family, +with the exception of the younger son, were none of them companionable; +they were self-contained and reserved, and lacking in those qualities of +individuality and initiative which make for the breaking away from +tradition and the following a line of one's own. Matilda was naturally +submissive. She had submitted uncomplainingly to Agatha's rule all her +life; and she left one submission for another, and, in accordance with +the dictates of the marriage service, which Prudence considered +degrading and Matilda thought beautiful, became subject willingly to the +dominating and not particularly chivalrous authority of her husband. +Had Mr Jones succeeded in winning the sister whom he had coveted, he +would have found this comfortable arrangement of relationship reversed. +There was no aptitude for submission in Prudence. + +On one point after Matilda's marriage Prudence was firm: she refused to +be chaperoned on her walks by one of the remaining sisters. Matilda's +presence she had suffered as a protection against the curate's advances; +since these advances were no longer to be dreaded, she refused to be +shadowed in future, and in order to escape from the annoyance took to +cycling, a form of exercise which none of the elder Miss Greynors would +attempt. + +Her cycling took her far afield, and brought many new pleasures into her +life. Miss Agatha tried to veto the idea; but Prudence, backed by her +father's permission, and in possession of a fine new machine which he +bought for her, defied opposition and rode forth whenever the weather +permitted in quest of new experiences. Sometimes she met with +adventures, and got into unexpected and informal conversations with +strangers encountered surprisingly in little outlying villages where she +dismounted to rest and quench her thirst. Cycling in its early stages +is very thirsty work. She never mentioned those experiences at home; +not that she was naturally secretive, but she held a strong conviction +that such harmless amusement would meet with disapproval; and life had +taught her that it is wisest to avoid unpleasantness. + +And once she met with an accident. That had to be admitted because it +could not by any means be suppressed. + +It was a silly sort of accident, which an experienced rider might have +averted; and it left her injured in temper as much as physically hurt. +The bicycle suffered the greater damage. She was free-wheeling down +hill with a broad open road ahead and nothing more formidable to pass +than a leisurely farm cart, crawling up the steep incline, accompanied +by an amiable sheep-dog which, until the cycle came abreast with it, was +ambling comfortably within the shade at the back of the cart. +Apparently the sight of the girl on the cycle excited it. It rushed +forward unexpectedly and, barking vociferously, got in front of her +wheel. Prudence swerved violently in order to avoid it, overbalanced +herself, and, before she quite realised what was happening, found +herself in the road inextricably mixed up with her crumpled machine. +The dog, its feet planted deeply in the white dust, barked in enjoyment +of this new kind of game. + +The farmer pulled up his horse, and looked down upon their grouping with +an expression of stolid amiability. + +"'E won't 'urt 'ee," he called out reassuringly, and whistled to the +dog, which, disregarding its owner, continued to bark gleefully at the +debris. + +Prudence lifted a face pale with indignation to the speaker. + +"'E won't 'urt 'ee," he repeated, and in case she needed further +reassurance, added comfortably: "'E's done it afore. 'E's that +friendly. But you needn't be afraid; 'e won't hurt." + +"Afraid!" she ejaculated, and sat up and looked around for her hat. +"He's done all the mischief he can. Get down, please, and wheel my +machine as far as the cottage. I'll have to rest." + +It dawning upon the man for the first time that the lady was annoyed +with him, he proceeded to obey her instructions, curiously little +resentful of her anger. While Prudence painfully regained her feet he +righted the disabled cycle, and, after a glance at his horse to assure +himself of his intention to stand, half-wheeled half-carried the machine +to a cottage at the bottom of the hill, and propped it against the wall +of the house. + +"'E's that friendly," he reiterated, gently admonishing the dog which +accompanied them delightedly. "'E always runs up to folk like that. +'E's done it afore. But 'e wouldn't 'urt anyone. It's just +friendliness." + +Prudence found nothing to say. She was already ashamed of her heat; but +the man's amiable indifference exasperated her. This was due, not to +any want of consideration, but to rustic obtuseness. He was urgently +anxious to reassure her in regard to the dog; ladies were scared as a +rule of dogs; he was also desirous of returning to his cart, the horse +having views of its own about standing. He knocked on the cottage door, +quite unnecessarily; two girls, who had witnessed the accident, having +already appeared in the entrance. One of them was laughing +immoderately, as though she considered the affair a huge joke, enacted +for her special amusement; the other, and older girl, favoured her with +a reproving look. + +"Young lady's met with a accident," the man explained. "The dog done +it; 'e's that friendly. She wants to rest a bit." + +He left it at that, and hurried back to his cart. The elder girl +invited the stranger to come inside, and the younger, following them, +stood in the doorway, laughing. Prudence showed her annoyance. + +"It wasn't so funny as you seem to think," she said, surveying her from +a chair in indignant surprise. + +"I know," the girl replied, her laughter trailing off into spasmodic +giggles. "I don't know what makes me keep laughing. But it was funny +seeing you in the road, an' the bicycle an' all. It made me fair +screech. I'm glad you're not hurt." + +"You'd like a glass of water, I expect?" said the older girl; and the +younger, as if desirous of atoning for her misplaced merriment, hurried +away to fetch it. + +"I don't know how I shall get home," said Prudence, who was more +concerned with this difficulty than with her bruises, although these +were more considerable than she had thought at first. She had wrenched +her ankle badly. "I'm ten miles from Wortheton, and my machine is +twisted hopelessly--even if I could ride it, which at present I don't +feel equal to doing. Could I get a conveyance near here?" + +"No," answered the girl. "There's nothing but that cart that's gone on. +I don't know what you'll do." + +They were not very helpful people, and there was no other house within +sight. Prudence began to fear that she would be hung up there for the +night. She wondered whether for a consideration the girl who had +laughed so immoderately would walk to the nearest village and secure +some sort of conveyance. She regretted that she had not commandeered +the cart of the man whose dog was responsible for the mishap, but events +had been too hurried to allow her time to realise the difficulties of +getting home in her damaged condition. She appealed to the girl, who +still stood surveying her with a wide grin of amusement, and who seemed +by no means eager to undertake the mission. She looked out along the +dusty road and up the steep hill, down which Prudence had sped to her +undoing, and hesitated; then she picked up a hat which was lying on a +chair and remarked that she would go up the road a bit and see if anyone +were about. + +Prudence sat on in the room, waiting in the company of the sister, with +a blank feeling of hopelessness for the next event. This when it befell +was so altogether unexpected that at the moment when she first caught +sight of a motor, with the girl who had set forth on her reluctant +search seated in the back, she almost discredited her senses. But the +motor came to a stop in the roadway before the house, and the other +girl, springing up and going to the window, remarked explanatorily over +her shoulder: + +"It's Major Stotford in his car. That's a rare bit of luck for you. I +suppose Lizzie stopped him. She's got a cheek. He's lord of the manor +over to Liscombe. It's all his property about here." + +Lizzie burst in in great excitement. + +"It's all right," she cried; "the Major'll drive you. Only you must be +quick; he hates to be kept waiting." + +She ran out again, and stood in the road staring admiringly at the +rather heavy, handsome man who remained at the steering wheel, and only +looked round when Prudence, walking with an unmistakable limp, emerged +from the house, with the other girl behind her, and approached the car. +With his first casual glance at her the look of indifference gave +immediate place to an expression of very real interest. What he had +expected he hardly knew, certainly not what he saw. He raised his cap, +and with an alertness he had not yet displayed, left the wheel and +opening the door of the car stepped into the road. + +"I don't know how to thank you," said Prudence. "It's most awfully kind +of you to come to the assistance of a stranger. I fear it will trespass +on your time. I live at Wortheton; that's ten miles from here." + +"Wortheton!" he said, and smiled charmingly. "My time is not so +valuable that so heavy a call upon it need worry you. I'll sprint you +home under the half-hour." + +He held the door for her and helped her up. Lizzie had occupied the +back seat, but plainly he preferred to have Prudence beside him. + +"Is that your cycle?" he asked. "You _have_ had a spill." + +"Yes. It will need to visit the doctor before I can ride it again," she +said, and turned a look of regret on the damaged machine. + +"So will you, by the look of things," he remarked, and scrutinised her +more closely. + +Prudence leaned down to take her farewell of, and recompense the +sisters, who, sober enough now, watched the proceedings with interest. + +"I'll send out for the cycle to-morrow," she said. + +But Major Stotford saw no necessity for leaving the cycle behind. + +"It will go in the back all right. We might as well take it along," he +said, and lifted it into the car. + +Lizzie, considerably more obliging than heretofore, lent a hand. When +he had settled the machine he took his seat beside Prudence. + +"Anyone we pass will conclude that I've run you down, and that I'm +taking home the pieces," he said, smiling at her with curious intimacy, +as the car took the long hill, and the girl leaned back white and weary +against the cushions. He drew a flask from his pocket and handed it to +her. "Don't look so horrified. If you could see the colour of your +face you would realise as surely as I do that this is what you need. +Take a good pull at it and you'll feel better." + +"I begin to believe that the lamp on my bicycle must once have belonged +to Aladdin," Prudence said with a quiet little laugh of enjoyment. "I +rubbed it to some purpose in the dust of the road. Whatever I require +appears." + +Major Stotford laughed with her. The thought in his mind, which he was +careful not to express in words, was that she carried the magic within +her. He leaned forward and altered the pace of the car, which had been +running at top speed. + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +"And now," Major Stotford remarked, as he turned in at the gates of +Court Heatherleigh and drove slowly along the smooth gravelled path +which led to the house, "for explanations. Beastly things, +explanations, eh? Can't see the necessity for them myself." + +He scrutinised the white face which, even in its pallor, and despite the +worried expression which he observed settled upon it as they drew near +her home, looked extraordinarily fresh and sweet. He had enjoyed the +ten mile drive exceedingly. Had he not believed that his companion was +enduring more discomfort than she would allow, he could have wished that +the distance had been greater. He was a man who appreciated feminine +society, and he had derived considerable pleasure as the result of an +act of careless good-nature from which he had not anticipated enjoyment. +It had been a new and agreeable experience. He determined that he +would see her again. The slight service he had been able to render her +gave him that much right at least, he decided. + +The door was flung wide, and the butler came down the steps with concern +written large on his discreet features. He opened the door of the car. +Major Stotford alighted, shouldered the man authoritatively out of the +way, and assisted Prudence to the ground. She leaned on his arm +heavily, and he saw her blue eyes darken with a look of pain. + +"I'm sorry; my ankle hurts." + +She turned from him to the waiting servant; but Major Stotford, +anticipating her request, lifted her in his arms and carried her easily +up the steps and into the hall. + +The butler, following quickly, got ahead of this intrusive stranger +whose proceedings he did not altogether approve of, and threw open the +drawing-room door. Major Stotford entered with his burden, and after +one swift comprehensive glance which took in the fact that the room was +untenanted, and located the sofa at the same moment, carried Prudence to +it and laid her gently down among its cushions. He stood over her +inquiringly, anxiety in his look and the hint of a smile in his eyes. + +"Come now! We're all right, eh?" he said, and felt in his pocket for +his flask, thought better of it and withdrew his hand again empty. + +Prudence made an effort to sit up and laughed nervously. + +"It's so stupid," she said, "A little thing like that! It's nothing +really." + +She was immensely relieved that no one save Graves had witnessed their +arrival. It would have alarmed her father, and scandalised Agatha, to +have seen her carried in like a baby. Major Stotford's helpfulness had +been in excess of what was necessary, she felt; with the aid of a strong +arm she could have accomplished the journey herself. + +"I've given you a lot of trouble. You've been awfully kind to me," she +said. + +Before he could reply, Mr Graynor entered, concerned and fussy, +followed by Agatha, who wore an expression of protest, and suggested +frigid disapproval in the very rustle of her skirts. + +"I always knew how it would end," she exclaimed. "This doesn't in the +least surprise me." + +"Oh! it isn't the end," Major Stotford put in with a twinkling of +amusement. "These little annoyances happen at the beginning. I don't +think there are any bones broken." + +Mr Graynor bent anxiously over Prudence and laid a hand on her hair. + +"You've had an accident. Are you much hurt?" he asked. + +"It's nothing really," she said, ashamed at the general fuss in front of +a stranger. "I had a spill--a silly little spill which jarred my ankle. +Major Stotford very kindly motored me home." + +Mr Graynor glanced swiftly at the person referred to. His anxiety +partially relieved, he found time to give attention to the man who had +not only brought his daughter home, but was, he imagined, responsible +for the accident. Major Stotford, taking advantage of the pause, set +about correcting this impression, which he had foreseen as likely to +follow his share in the proceedings. + +"I was fortunately near the spot," he said. "Miss Graynor rode over a +dog in the roadway, and unluckily it was not the dog which got hurt. It +seldom is on these occasions. I brought home the wreckage." + +"I am sure I am very much obliged to you," Mr Graynor said, but with +such a lack of graciousness in his manner as to cause Prudence surprise +and distress. Major Stotford's helpfulness had been more valuable than +he realised. She glanced at her new acquaintance with a quick bright +flush. + +"I know I am. If it had not been for Major Stotford's kindness I should +have been stranded for the night with no possibility of communicating +with you at a wretched wayside cottage ten miles away. I've trespassed +enormously on his time, and given quite a lot of trouble. But I enjoyed +the ride." + +He laughed pleasantly. + +"I enjoyed it too. And you make too much of my services. They were +nothing. I trust the foot will soon be well, and that the injuries are +as light as you would so bravely have us believe." He addressed himself +to Mr Graynor. "If you like I'll leave word at the doctor's on my way +back. You'll want to call him in, I expect." + +"Thank you, there is no need to trouble you further," Mr Graynor +returned stiffly. "I can send." + +"I have already sent," Miss Agatha interposed; and Major Stotford turned +to look in her direction, as if recalling the presence of one he had +temporarily forgotten. + +"Then that's finished," he said; "and it only remains to unload the +car." + +He spoke with a certain cold hostility in his voice which did not escape +Prudence's ear. It hurt her. She could have wept with vexation at her +father's want of gratitude and courtesy to this man who had proved so +good a friend to her in her need: she felt that she wanted to apologise +to him for the rudeness of her family. Then she became aware of her +father speaking again in the same politely distant tones as before, +thanking the other man coldly for the trouble he had been put to, and +assuring him that the bicycle had been removed by the servants. + +"You should not have burdened yourself with that too," he added. "You +place me under a heavy obligation to you which will leave me always +indebted." + +"My dear sir," Major Stotford interrupted, "you are in no sense under an +obligation to me; please disabuse your mind of that idea." + +He cut short further expressions of gratitude by advancing to the sofa +and shaking hands with Prudence, who, as if desirous of atoning for the +general lack of warmth, gave him both her hands on a simple girlish +impulse. He took and held them with no show of surprise. + +"Thank you so much," she said, a soft appeal in eyes and voice which he +was quick to note. "I just want to say how much I enjoyed the drive and +your kind care of me. I'm very grateful to you." + +"You are setting such a premium on ordinary courtesy that I begin to +believe it must be a rare quality in these parts," he said jestingly, +with what sounded to Prudence a faintly sarcastic humour. He had +assuredly not been given particular evidence of the quality beneath that +roof. "But if you insist on regarding my small service so graciously I +do not feel inclined to quarrel with you on that score. I can only +repeat that I am glad I happened to be on the spot. Good-bye. Take +care of the ankle. It will tax your patience, I expect." + +Mr Graynor accompanied him into the hall, and invited him into the +library for refreshment, which he declined. Prudence listened to their +voices outside, listened to the motor drive away, and turned with a face +pale with indignation, when her father re-entered the room, and +reproached him with having displayed so little gratitude to a man who +had acted with such ready kindliness towards her. + +"I felt ashamed," she said. "You were barely civil." + +"You forget yourself, Prudence," Agatha said. "Father was quite civil. +There was no need to gush--you did that." + +"And if I did," Prudence cried, exasperated, "you two forced me into +doing so." + +Mr Graynor had crossed to the window, where he remained with his back +towards the room, paying little heed to their wrangling. + +"I wish it had not been Major Stotford who rendered you the service," he +said presently, and faced about and approached the sofa with an +expression of worried annoyance on his face. "I am sorry this has +happened." + +"Why?" Prudence sat up straighter and punched the cushions viciously. +"Why?" she repeated aggressively. + +"Because--" + +"Do you think it necessary to explain these matters to a child?" Agatha +interrupted tartly. + +Prudence laughed angrily. + +"I'm not a child," she said. "You can't keep my mind for ever on a +leading string." + +"I think you are unnecessarily excited," Mr Graynor said in displeased +tones. "I doubt whether that is good for you in your present +condition." + +"Being thwarted is not good for me in my present condition," Prudence +retorted, but with greater calmness. "You aren't being fair to me. Why +should it be a matter for regret to you that Major Stotford should do me +a service? He hadn't much choice. No man, who wasn't a brute, could +have acted otherwise in the circumstances." + +"No," Mr Graynor admitted. "It was simply unfortunate. Major Stotford +is a man whom I do not care to have in my house, whom I would not choose +as an associate for my daughters. He has an evil reputation." + +"Evil!" Prudence sounded a note of incredulity. "In what sense?" she +asked. + +"There is no need to soil your ears with his history," Mr Graynor +replied. "His wife divorced him two years ago. I understood he was +abroad." + +"Oh!" said Prudence, and felt oddly chilled by this revelation. + +She had liked the man, had hoped that the acquaintance so informally +begun would develop pleasantly on ordinary lines, a hope which she +realised very certainly could never be fulfilled. Further intercourse +would be forbidden her. Though had the road been open to a pursuance of +the acquaintance Prudence herself would no longer have wished to follow +it up. The colour had gone out of the pleasure and left a neutral-toned +picture in its stead, a picture of life in its least lovely aspect, with +the sordid streak of self-indulgence trailing its disfiguring smudges +across the canvas. Was nothing that was pleasant altogether fine? In +this complex meandering of human destinies was this mean streak, which +spoilt the fine grain of the wood, discoverable in each separate +individual? + +Prudence lay back against the cushions feeling utterly weary and unable +to cope with the rush of swift emotions which flooded her mind. +Reaction followed upon the period of excitement. She was conscious only +of the pain in her foot. No one had thought of removing her shoe. She +had loosened it in the car; but the foot had swollen and felt too big +for its covering. She made an effort now to remove the shoe, whereupon +Agatha, capable but unsympathetic, came to her assistance. + +"You ought to have done that before," she complained petulantly, and to +her own surprise, as well as to her sister's, broke down and cried +weakly. + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +Though not serious, Prudence's injuries confined her to the house for +some time. It proved an irksome time for the members of her family as +well as for herself. She was not patient, and it exasperated her to be +compelled to lie on the sofa, unequal to rising from it and running away +when her sisters, from a sense of duty, installed themselves near her +couch with the sociable intention of keeping her company. They insisted +on her occupying herself with some sewing as a relief to the tedium of +enforced inaction. Prudence hated sewing, and made a demand for books; +whereupon her sisters in turn read aloud to her the works of Miss +Nouchette Carey, which were familiar to Prudence from childhood, and +bored her exceedingly. She wanted something more stimulating; something +which did not depict Wortheton ideals and sentiment. But the more +modern writers were banned as unwholesome, and the poets were +discredited on account of an erotic tendency to idealise passion and +adorn sensuousness with an exalted language better suited to more +spiritual qualities. Or so Miss Agatha thought. + +"The merit of a book," she affirmed, "depends upon whether it stands the +test of being read aloud without causing embarrassment to the reader and +to the audience." + +"Books never embarrass me," Prudence said, "but occasionally they bore +me. I don't care to read about people who lead the stodgy kind of life +we lead." + +"Life is not stodgy," Agatha reproved her. "And it is the same +everywhere." + +"God forbid!" ejaculated Prudence, and thereby brought a storm of +horrified reproach upon her head. + +On occasions Matilda arrived and spent an afternoon or morning with her, +such an altered Matilda that she appeared to Prudence in the guise of a +stranger. Matilda had emerged since her marriage, and from being a mild +reflection of her eldest sister, reflected now Mr Jones quite brightly +and unconsciously. She echoed him in a feminine note, and quoted him +with unintentional inaccuracy, but with sufficient likeness to recall +the original with unpleasant vividness to Prudence's mind. Usually Mr +Jones was too busy to accompany her. + +"The vicar leaves so much to him," Mrs Jones explained. "Ernest hopes +to move from Wortheton shortly." + +"I understood that he was greatly attached to his work here," Prudence +said. "He likes the factory and the people." + +"He has hopes of a living," Matilda confided, lowering her voice. + +"Oh, a living! That's another matter. You'll be quite important." + +Matilda looked a little doubtful. + +"It's a very poor living," she confessed, "even if he succeeds in +obtaining it. No clergyman without private means could accept it." + +"I see." Prudence did see, very clearly. She smiled suddenly. "How +grateful he must feel to you," she added. + +Matilda resented this very much in the manner Prudence decided in which +Mr Jones would have resented it. + +"That matters only in regard to this particular living," she said. +"Ernest would succeed in any case; he is so clever." + +Prudence's accident, with the unfortunate complication which had +effected Major Stotford's entry upon the scene, was used by Agatha, +backed by brother William, as a sufficient reason against future +cycling. Agatha went to an immense amount of trouble in her efforts to +gain her father's veto against Prudence riding again. She persuaded him +to get rid of the bicycle as the surest means of avoiding fresh +misadventures; and rendered him so nervous with her gloomy forebodings +that he did consent to part with the bicycle; but he reserved his veto +against riding until he saw how Prudence viewed a possible prohibition. +He could not deny her pleasure merely because the idea of her riding +made him nervous. Bobby had met with accidents when he first cycled; +but it never had been suggested that Bobby should give up riding from a +fear he might break his neck. + +The damaged cycle was disposed of; William saw to that. Agatha +undertook to inform her sister; she also sought to prevail with her to +give up the exercise. She enlarged upon her father's anxiety, so +injurious in the case of a man of his years, and pointed out to Prudence +that duty demanded this sacrifice of her pleasure to his anxious love. + +Prudence heard her out in silence, a stony silence which betrayed +nothing of the rage that burned within her breast. With the finish of +the oration her chin tilted aggressively. + +"This is your doing," she said. + +"It is father's wish," Agatha replied. "The bicycle was sold by his +orders." + +"Oh!" Prudence exclaimed, with a gesture of impatience. "I know. +What's the good of talking? I am sick of all this pretence of anxiety. +You hate me to have any enjoyment. You never rest--you never have +rested, from seeking to make my life colourless and dull. You are +satisfied only when you keep me sewing, or working in the parish. Well, +I won't sew any more--for fear I prick my fingers, and I won't work in +the parish either from a nervous dread of having my morals contaminated. +If I can't do the things I like, I won't do the things I don't like +either." + +Miss Agatha's anger, if more controlled, was every whit as great as +Prudence's. She gazed down upon her sister where she lay upon the sofa +with eyes of cold dislike. Always they had been antagonistic. She had +resented her father's second marriage bitterly, and had disliked his +young wife: the earlier resentment, and the dislike for Prudence's +mother, influenced her largely in her antagonism towards the child of +the marriage, the child who was dearer to their father than any of his +other children, and who was so unlike the rest. But she had, according +to her own view, conscientiously done her duty by her young sister: the +accusation of jealous injustice stung her; she felt that she had not +merited that. + +"You are wicked and ungrateful," she said. "You display a great want of +control, and an unchristian spirit. I hope that later, when you have +given yourself time to reflect, you will regret what you have said. I +confess I don't understand you." + +"No," Prudence rejoined. "You never have understood me. I don't +suppose you ever will." + +"You are not," Miss Agatha answered shortly, "so complex as you +imagine." + +Having nothing further to say, and feeling irritated by the laugh with +which her rebuke was received, she closed the interview by leaving the +room. + +But the matter was not ended. Prudence had no intention of allowing it +to rest there. She meant to have it out with her father. He had given +the bicycle to her; he had no right to dispose of it without consulting +her. The business of having it out with him in private was not easy of +accomplishment; she seldom saw him alone, and pride restrained her from +broaching the subject before the others. Matters were complicated by +the arrival of Mr Edward Morgan, who, to Prudence's secret +disappointment, came himself on his firm's business instead of sending a +subordinate. Prudence had very vividly in her memory that former +occasion when Steele visited Wortheton. She recalled their different +meetings, few in number but strangely pleasant and familiar; recalled +too the stolen interview with Steele under her window. She longed to +speak of him to Mr Morgan; but self-consciousness tied her tongue and +made mention of his name too difficult. She waited in the hope that Mr +Morgan would allude to the young man's visit. But Mr Morgan was not +accommodating. He had as a matter of fact almost forgotten Steele's +existence, had entirely forgotten that visit of Steele's to Wortheton +over a year ago. Steele had left Morgan Bros, shortly afterwards and +gone abroad: that, so far as Edward Morgan's interest in him was +concerned, was the finish. + +It became plain to Prudence, and to the members of Prudence's family, as +the days passed and Mr Morgan showed no haste to depart, that he was +becoming more than ordinarily interested in herself. He had known her +for years. As a child she had delighted him; as a girl he had found her +amusing; but the woman in her came as a startling revelation, and +carried this middle-aged and rather serious-minded business man out of +his immense abstractions and his rather cumbersome habit of reserve. + +He became surprisingly alert and attentive to Prudence's whims. He was +quick to lend a hand when she left her sofa; and he sat beside the sofa +in the evenings, and played chess with her, and taught her card games. +William's amiable efforts to draw him into conversation with himself, or +to entice him into the library, met with no encouragement. + +"It's dull for your sister, not being able to get about," he explained. +"We've got to amuse her." + +He did amuse her; and he earned her gratitude at the same time. It was +a new and agreeable experience to be considered first and consulted +deferentially and made to feel oneself of some importance. He bought +her chocolates and books, books such as Miss Agatha did not approve of, +and which Prudence read with avidity. She shared her chocolates, but +she kept the books to herself. + +"If you only knew what pleasure you give me," she said, on receiving a +volume. And Mr Morgan, looking pleased, answered quietly: + +"That's what I want to give you--pleasure." + +The next day he gave her another book. + +"I don't read novels myself," he explained. "But I demand the best, and +place myself unreservedly in the bookseller's hands. Generally they +know what is worth reading." + +Prudence confided in him her trouble over the cycling veto, anticipating +sympathy, and was disappointed in him because he sided with the family +in their objection to her riding. He did not approve of cycling for +ladies, he said. That struck her as a very antiquated prejudice. +Cycling for women was so general until motoring became more popular. + +"If father would give me a car," she said, "I should prefer it." + +"Better have a pony carriage," he advised, "if you intend driving it +yourself. Safer and pleasanter, really." + +"How stodgy!" she said, and laughed. "That's much too slow." + +It was regrettable, she reflected, that he was so elderly; and she +wondered what he had been like as a young man, and why he had never +married. + +The answer to that question was that, until he met her as a woman, he +had never known love. He knew it now. And he recognised it for the one +passion of his life--a disturbing passion on account of the disparity in +their ages. This disparity he recognised as a barrier, but a barrier +which might be overcome. It is a barrier which many people surmount and +not always unsuccessfully. None the less the undertaking is attended +with risks, and the risks are worthy of consideration. The ideal +marriage is based on equality in essential things. Contemporaneous +ideas and sentiments lend themselves most readily to sympathy. Without +sympathy and understanding a perfect relationship cannot exist. The +individual of forty who fails to recognise this fact deserves no +compassion when he strikes the rocks ahead. + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +Edward Morgan came into Prudence's life again at a time when the dulness +and restriction of her home were peculiarly galling, when her spirit was +in fierce revolt against the petty tyranny of Agatha's rule, supported +by William's influence and strengthened by their animosity towards her, +which seemed to her daily to increase and to make anything like amicable +relations impossible. Before this powerful bond of opposition Mr +Graynor, old and incapable of sustained effort, gave way against his +volition, slowly but surely deputing his authority in domestic affairs +as he had deputed his business authority to his son, and retiring more +and more within himself, content, if not harassed with a knowledge of +unpleasantness to leave to his family the arrangement of their affairs. +That in this way he treated his young daughter unfairly did not occur to +him. He had no idea that Prudence was unhappy. Yet, had he reflected +he must have recognised that it was a powerful combination arrayed +against her, a combination which he himself felt unequal to opposing. +But he belonged to a past generation. When the autumn leaves cling to +the tree beyond their time they hang sear and useless before the push of +the new verdure: and he had hung on till it seemed that the seasons had +forgotten him and time refused to detach him from the bough. He was a +little weary of hanging there overlooked and forgotten while another +generation ripened to decay. He saw his children entering upon their +autumn, and almost forgot the time when they, like Prudence, were in the +springtime of life. When one reaches the winter of life one realises +life's sadness; for the hope of spring, and the contentment of summer +belong to the days that are numbered. One lives necessarily in the +present and looks back upon the past; the future belongs solely to +youth. In Edward Morgan's love for Prudence was repeated his own +middle-aged romance. His married life with his young wife had been too +brief to prove its unsuitability. He only remembered that that short +time had been a happy time for him. And he liked Morgan; he would be +satisfied to accept him for a son-in-law. Prudence was young for him, +he recognised that; but, he argued, middle-aged men frequently married +young girls, and such marriages were not always unsuccessful. The +middle-aged suitor seldom pauses to reflect that if a younger man +appeared upon the scene his matured experience would stand him in no +good stead; a girl does not often marry a man many years her senior from +any happier reason than that nothing better offers. To a girl a man of +forty appears elderly. This is natural. Age, like everything else, is +relative in either sex. + +Prudence was flattered by Mr Morgan's attentions and grateful for his +consideration. She did not love him. She had a very clear idea what +type of man could inspire love in her. It was an entirely different +type from Mr Morgan. But marriage with Mr Morgan opened a way of +escape from uncongenial surroundings. If she missed this opening it was +very possible that an opportunity might not occur again. She made up +her mind, as Steele had known she would do, to seize it when the moment +offered. + +She made one final attempt, however, to gain news of Steele. One day +when she was alone with Mr Morgan she summoned all her courage and +inquired after Steele. + +Mr Morgan showed surprise at her question, and paused a moment for +reflection before he was able clearly to recall the facts about the man +to whom she referred. It seemed to be a matter of astonishment to him +that she should be acquainted with Steele. Steele had left Morgan Bros, +a year ago, he told her. He had gone abroad, to Africa, he believed. +He revealed an uncertainty as to his movements and a lack of interest in +them which exasperated Prudence. + +"So many young men emigrate to the Colonies nowadays," he said. "New +countries attract them. They don't settle down in England." + +"There are better openings in new countries, I suppose," she said in a +dispirited voice, which she strove to render indifferent. "A man with +enterprise ought to get ahead in the Colonies." + +"A man with enterprise possibly might get ahead," Mr Morgan allowed; "a +man with capital assuredly would." + +"Don't brains reckon as capital in new countries?" she asked. + +"Brains are an asset in every country," he answered; "but credit at +one's bank is the surest passport to success anywhere. So far as I +remember, Steele was unfortunate. He did not leave us under any cloud; +but there was a default in his department, and he had to make good. I +imagine he emigrated with only the necessary means for landing." + +"Oh!" said Prudence, and regarded Mr Morgan, who was reputed to be a +millionaire, with a diminution of respect. He could better have +afforded to lose the money. To have allowed a man who, while +responsible, was not culpable in the matter of the deficit to make good +was ungenerous. "I wish you had not told me that." + +He looked astonished. + +"You could have borne the loss," she said. + +"Business cannot be run on quixotic lines," he answered. "Besides, +every man of honour accepts his responsibilities." + +He was quite right; she knew that; all he said was perfectly just. But +a woman seldom reasons on lines of strict justice. She would have liked +Edward Morgan better had he been generous rather than just. Instead she +went to bed feeling angry with him and compassionate towards Steele. +Why, she wondered, had she forbidden Steele to write? And why had he +obeyed her so implicitly? He might in any case have sent her a line of +farewell before sailing. She would not have cared had the whole family +seen it if only she had received that small assurance that he +remembered. + +Perhaps he did not remember. Perhaps when he left Wortheton he had put +her out of his thoughts. There was no reason why he should continue to +bear her in mind when circumstances had taken him out of her life and +separated them so widely. There were fresh interests now, new scenes, +to engage and distract his attention. The Wortheton episode had played +an unimportant part in his life. Such episodes, she knew, were frequent +in most men's lives, and stood for no more than they were, pleasant +interludes breaking the monotony of everyday things. + +Then her thoughts strayed reminiscently to that stolen interview under +her window; and she recalled things Steele had said to her and the +manner of their utterance; and it seemed to her by the light of those +half-forgotten memories that he had acted disloyally in going out of her +life so completely. He _had_ betrayed an interest in her. And he had +stirred up a corresponding interest in her breast. He had no right to +do that and then to pass on and forget. + +Two days later Edward Morgan returned to Derbyshire. It had been his +intention to propose to Prudence before returning. He had had an +interview with Mr Graynor, and had ascertained that his suit was viewed +favourably by her father; but Prudence herself was a little difficult +during those last two days; and Mr Morgan did not feel sufficiently +confident of success with her to put his happiness to the test. Her +variable moods disconcerted him. It did not occur to him to seek an +explanation of her decreased kindliness in anything that had passed +between them; and so he failed to trace his fall in her esteem to the +information he had given her in regard to Steele. That unfortunate +relation had opened up a wider gulf than he would have believed +possible, as a more generous account would, while raising him in her +esteem, have decreased the influence of the absent Steele. Now the +balance weighed in Steele's favour; and Mr Morgan was made +uncomfortably conscious of a lack of response to his tenderness from the +girl he hoped to marry. + +On the evening before he left he had an interview with her alone. + +It was a matter for amusement with Prudence to note the frequency of +these private audiences. Hitherto the family had relegated her to the +background; now, with an amazing discernment for matters calling for +their united supervision, they withdrew from the drawing-room, melting +away with such tactful unobtrusiveness that Mr Morgan firmly believed +in those numerous domestic obligations which engaged so much of their +time, and very willingly submitted to be entertained by the sister whose +accident incapacitated her from taking an active share in their doings. +On the whole he was well satisfied; and he approved of the doctor's +prescription of rest as the only cure for the damaged ankle. + +"I'll send you some more literature when I get back," he said, sitting +facing her in the dusk, with what remained of the daylight falling on +his broad strong face. "I expect the sofa will see a good deal of you +for a week or so longer. The trouble of these matters is the +disproportionately long time they take to mend. On the next occasion +when I visit Wortheton I shall hope to see you walking about with the +best." + +"I should hope so," Prudence said, and laughed. + +"Oh! I don't mean to absent myself for a specially long period," he +said, and looked at her with the light of a steady purpose in his eyes. +"I'm wanting you to say that you will be glad to see me again. I should +have liked to have heard you express some regret at my going now." + +He paused, but Prudence, who was nervously playing with a flower which +he had brought in from the garden for her, did not immediately reply. +She was not sure what might follow an expression of regret from her. +She did not feel regret; and she had a very definite desire in her mind +to avert a direct proposal. + +"I shall be very pleased to see you when you come again," she said at +last. + +Mr Morgan smiled faintly. + +"I suppose I shall have to rest content with that," he said. He put out +a hand and laid it over her hand--the hand which held the flower. "Do I +seem old to you?" he asked. + +Prudence looked up at him with wide surprised eyes. He was looking back +at her with a steady kindly smile that made her nervous. + +"Not so _very_ old," she answered; and felt her cheeks flaming as she +saw the quick colour stain his face. + +He sighed. + +"A little fatherly, eh?" he said, the smile returning. And he wondered +whether she would ever learn to her distress how cruelly youth can hurt. +"Well, I'm not young. I'm forty-two. I want you to accustom yourself +to that knowledge before I come again. When I come again I shall have +another lesson to teach you." + +He spoke lightly; and with the lessening of his earnestness and the +removal of his hand, both of which Prudence had found embarrassing, she +felt relieved and was able to smile back at him with something of the +old frankness. + +"If you teach then as kindly as you have to-day," she said, "I shall +prove a dull pupil if I do not learn it readily." + +"You give me hope," he said. + +He scrutinised her for a moment very closely, made as though he would +speak, surprised a startled apprehension in her eyes which nearly +resembled fear, and thought better of it. He got up rather suddenly and +walked to the fireplace and stood staring unseeingly into the empty +grate. + +"I'll be patient," he said. "Perhaps you will have prepared your mind a +little to receive that lesson by the time I return." + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +It was the wisest thing which Edward Morgan could have done to go away +and leave what he had it in his mind to say unsaid. Prudence missed him +after he left, missed his kindly attentions, the quick thought for her +comfort which forestalled her wishes, his pleasant companionship. He +was a man who, if somewhat earnest, perhaps because of this earnestness, +talked well on most subjects. He was neither brilliant nor very ready +of speech. The quality Prudence liked best in him was his habit of +treating her as an equal; he did not pursue the tactic of talking down +to her. The latter was one of William's unamiable eccentricities, and +it annoyed Prudence the more because William at his wisest was never so +profound as to be beyond the comprehension of the most ordinary +intelligence. + +In Mr Morgan's presence William's attitude towards her changed +considerably; following Mr Morgan's departure the increased deference +of his manner moderated slightly since no definite proposal had +resulted. William suspected that his sister's chances were not so +secure as he had believed. She was foolish enough, he decided, to lose +this excellent opportunity of making a brilliant marriage. William was +not so anxious to see his sister married as he was desirous of forming +an alliance with the house of Morgan Bros. If she brought the matter +off she would win his approbation and his unbounded respect. Something +of what he felt on this head he managed to convey to her in an indirect +manner which he considered tactful. He felt that his approval would +have considerable weight with her. + +"Morgan appears to have enjoyed his visit," he remarked to her; "he was +sorry to go. He is an uncommonly good fellow. I like him." + +"He's a kind old thing," said Prudence with a gleam of mischief in her +eyes. + +"Old! Nonsense!" William squared his heavy shoulders and regarded +himself complacently in the overmantel. "He's a younger man than I." + +"Well, yes." Prudence surveyed William's grey hairs with +uncomplimentary attentiveness, surveyed his corpulent figure, and +smiled. "He's forty-two. I have his own word for that." + +"A man isn't old at forty-two," he said. + +"He looks old though." + +"When a man has passed his first youth," William observed sententiously, +"he is--ahem!--more interesting, more reliable. He knows what he wants. +I confess that Morgan inspires in me both confidence and liking. One +can respect a man who has proved his worth." + +"He has proved an aptitude for making money," Prudence allowed. + +"Isn't that proof of worth?" + +"It suggests sound business acumen." + +"With industry and perseverance," he insisted. + +"Generosity is finer than these qualities." She was thinking of the +unfortunate confidence relating to Steele. + +"You at least have not found him lacking in that quality," he said, +surprised. "He has showered gifts on you." + +"He has been very generous to me," she admitted, and laughed with a ring +of scorn in the mirth. "There is small merit in being generous when it +pleases one to be so." + +He stared at her in amazement. + +"I think you are strangely wanting in gratitude," he said. "Few people +with the very sufficient grounds which you have for recognising a man's +generosity would display so grudging an acknowledgment. Morgan was most +appreciative in his praise of you. He revealed a very deep--regard for +you." + +William surveyed his half-sister with the doubtful scrutiny of a man who +failed to discover what it was in her which attracted other men: beyond +her looks he could discern no particular charm; and her looks were not +in his opinion remarkable. + +"I have heard more impassioned avowals," she returned. + +"From whom?" he demanded instantly. + +"Perhaps I have only imagined them,--or," and she patted the cover of +one of Mr Morgan's gifts and laughed, "met with them in books." + +"There is a lot of pernicious trash written," observed William. "It +puts ideas in girls' heads." + +"You wouldn't wish even a girl's head empty of ideas, would you?" + +"I would wish it empty of nonsense," he answered sharply. "A woman +should be satisfied to look after her home, and--all that." + +This being non-committal and liberal of interpretation, Prudence let it +pass unchallenged. She was so familiar with William's ideas about woman +and her place in the scheme of things, and appreciated his opinion so +little that she was satisfied to leave him to the undisputed enjoyment +of his views. It was William's own misfortune that he could never +emerge from the rut into which he had floundered. He had long ago +persuaded himself into the belief that his rut was the open road. + +Feeling that he had said sufficient to add the weight of his approval to +the balance in favour of Mr Morgan, William left his sister to digest +his words; and subsequently informed his father that he entertained +small doubt that if Edward Morgan did Prudence the honour of asking her +to be his wife she would accept him. He believed she would appreciate +the compliment of such an offer. + +Prudence herself was less confident. She was indeed so undecided that +the respite allowed her came as a relief. It gave her time for +consideration of the matter. She did not love Edward Morgan; but he +held open the door of freedom, and she feared that if she missed this +opportunity of passing through, it might never open for her again. + +There followed a period of waiting and uncertainty and general boredom, +during which the ankle grew well and she was able to leave the sofa and +walk in the garden. It was then that the loss of her cycle became once +more a source of acute annoyance. + +"You had no right to sell it, daddy," she complained; "it was mine. +You'll have to buy me a new one." + +"I hoped you wouldn't care to ride any more, Prue," he returned +evasively. "It isn't safe. You may break your neck next time." + +"I may, of course. I stand a greater chance of doing so if you won't +buy me a machine, because I shall hire; and hired cycles aren't +reliable. Of course I shall ride again. Your advice is as preposterous +as telling a child who has learnt to walk that it must revert to +sedentary habits. It wouldn't, you know, however nice a child it might +be." + +She drew him towards her by the lapels of his coat and kissed him on +either cheek. + +"You'll get me a new cycle, daddy?--just like the last?" + +Mr Graynor yielded. When Prudence coaxed, looking at him with that +light in her blue eyes, she recalled her mother so vividly to his mind +that he could not resist her. It were easier to vex Agatha than to +disappoint Prue. + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +Summer was on the wane and autumn was busy early colouring the leaves. +Edward Morgan had intended returning to Wortheton before the finish of +the warm weather; but many things prevented him from carrying out his +wish; and the weeks went by without any sign from him, save the regular +arrival of the monthly parcel of books, which Prudence as regularly +acknowledged, writing a frank girlish letter of thanks, which took +longer to compose than the subject matter warranted. The difficulty of +writing those letters increased with each repetition of the performance. +He never wrote to her. He did not even address the parcels; they came +direct from the bookseller. Had he sent a few friendly lines with his +gifts it would have made the task of acknowledgment easier. + +Each time that he received one of these brief inconsequent epistles Mr +Morgan opened it eagerly and hastily read it in the always vain hope of +finding the wish expressed therein that he would fulfil his promise to +revisit Wortheton. But Prudence made no mention of this matter. And he +locked the letters away in a private drawer and waited in patient +hopefulness for the next. The next letter invariably roused similar +emotions and brought further disappointment on perusal. Mr Morgan +proved of his own experience that being in love is not a happy condition +of mind. + +On the whole Prudence enjoyed the possession of an undeclared suitor: it +gave her a sense of importance, a sense too of future security. She +could regard with indifference the acid rigour of Agatha's authority and +brother William's pompous displeasure. William had been extremely +annoyed by the arrival of the new bicycle, and had made unpleasant +observations about Prudence's roaming habits and her propensity for +making casual and undesirable acquaintances. It was very evident that +William considered that his sister rode abroad in quest of these +adventures. His insinuations exasperated her, but they did not shake +her determination to ride when and where she pleased. + +It was soon after the arrival of the new cycle, when she was enjoying +her first long rides after the accident, that she met again the man +whose kindness to her lingered pleasantly in her memory, despite the +shock of disillusion which had eclipsed much of the brightness of the +recollection. The encounter sprung upon her unaware. She had neither +expected nor wished to meet Major Stotford again. But when he overtook +her in his car, and stopped the car a few yards ahead of her and waited +for her to come up with it, there was no doubt in Prudence's mind as to +what she ought to do. She ceased peddling and alighted. Major +Stotford, who was alone, opened the door of the car and stepped into the +road beside her. + +"A piece of good luck!" he said, shaking hands. "I've often wondered +about you. There is no need to ask if you have quite recovered. So +they let you ride again?" + +"They didn't want to; it was a fight," Prudence said, and laughed. + +"Yes!" he said, smiling too. "I imagined you would have difficulty. +I'm glad you won. They didn't tell you, I suppose, that I called to +inquire a few days after our adventure?" + +"No; they didn't tell me," she replied, and flushed slightly. "It was +very kind of you. I didn't know." + +"I thought possibly it might not get to your knowledge," he said coolly, +and surveyed her flushed face with keen appreciation. "I was not +allowed to see you, but was privileged to interview your brother +instead. I have never approved of substitutes, and discovered on that +occasion no good reason for reconsidering my prejudice. I'm delighted +to meet you again anyhow." + +His frankness embarrassed Prudence; but she recalled his kindness and +the service he had done her, and felt further vexation with her family. + +"I'm glad too," she said, playing nervously with the little bell on her +handle-bar. He took hold of the handle-bar also and became immensely +interested in the machine. + +"It's a new one, isn't it?" he said. "Surely the other wasn't past +repairing?" + +"I don't know. They got rid of it." + +"I see." His eyes twinkled. "And you compelled them to make good. +They have done it quite handsomely. Your persuasive powers must be +considerably greater than mine." + +"I threatened to hire," said Prudence, and immediately realised on +hearing him laugh that this admission was disloyal to the family. She +lifted her eyes with a flash of pride in them to his smiling face. +"Father is always generous," she said. "He wouldn't trust the old cycle +again, though the spill was entirely my fault. I'm cautious in regard +to dogs now." + +"Yes," he agreed, the smile deepening. "Caution is a quality which the +wise cultivate. Possibly had I not considerably neglected it I should +have been more successful--socially. But these things are so dull." + +He took his hand off the handle-bar and straightened himself and looked +down at her with a quick resolve in his face. + +"We managed to find room for the old cycle," he said. "I don't see why +there need be any difficulty in stowing this away. What do you say? +Will you drive with me?" + +For the fraction of a second Prudence hesitated. She did not want to +drive with him. She knew that if she agreed she could not speak of it +at home: there was something a little shameful in doing what must of +necessity be done secretly. But the memory of that former occasion on +which she had been glad enough to make use of his car was in her mind, +and made a refusal to accept the present invitation appear pointedly +ungracious. + +"You would rather not?" he said reproachfully. + +Prudence made up her mind on the instant. + +"Thank you, I should like it. But couldn't we leave the bicycle +somewhere and pick it up on our return?" + +"We could," he said. "That's not a bad idea. There's an inn a quarter +of a mile along the road. I'll drive on so that you shan't be smothered +in dust, and you follow; then we'll house the bicycle and go for a joy +ride." + +He re-entered the car and drove off; while Prudence, waiting for the +cloud of dust which he raised to subside, stood beside her machine, +dismayed at the realisation of what she had consented to do, and +considering whether it would not be wiser to head her cycle in the +opposite direction and ride home. But reflection showed her the +impossibility of acting in so ungracious a manner. She should have +declined his invitation in the first instance; to evade the engagement +now was unthinkable. + +When she arrived at the inn it was to discover that Major Stotford had +made the necessary arrangements; it only remained for her to relinquish +her cycle to the man who stood ready to take it, and climb to her seat +in the car. Despite a determination to enjoy herself and banish +disquieting thoughts, Prudence was conscious of feeling not entirely at +her ease with her companion. She could not have explained this sense of +mistrust. There was nothing in Major Stotford's manner to arouse it; +she decided that possibly it resulted from what she had learned in +regard to his private life. That ugly story coloured all her thoughts +of him, and revealed him in an unfavourable light. She had not met this +type of man before. + +Nevertheless he interested her. He talked well. And he was so +manifestly enjoying himself and showed such eagerness to please her that +Prudence made an effort to shake off her uneasiness and share his +pleasure in the excursion. But when he stopped at a little village some +miles further on and took her into a place where they catered for +tourists, the old disquieting feeling came back intensified; and she +knew that she was not enjoying herself, that she shrank from appearing +in public with a man whose acquaintance she had been forbidden. There +was no longer any doubt in her mind that she had acted indiscreetly. + +"I would rather go on," she said. "I don't want tea, and I mustn't be +late." + +"We shan't be here many minutes," he replied. "And you must have +something. Rushing through the air gives me an appetite. I'll get you +back in good time, if I have to exceed the speed limit. We've been +doing that already." + +He carried his point and led her within. They were shown into a little +room where a table was laid for tea. There was no one else in the room, +though from across the passage voices were audible and the sound of +clinking china in proof that other travellers were taking refreshment. +Major Stotford looked about him critically, flung his gloves on a chair, +and advised Prudence to sit down and rest. + +"I'll go and order something to eat," he said. + +Prudence, who was standing near the window, looking out on a regiment of +tall hollyhocks and a group of flaming dahlias blooming in the little +garden, made no response; and he left the room, closing the door behind +him. + +With the closing of the door she faced about, feeling extraordinarily +like a person trapped. It was absurd of course; but her heart beat with +uncomfortable rapidity, and excitement flushed her face and lent a +brightness to her eyes. She moved about the room restlessly examining +the gaudy prints on the walls and the hideous design of the Brussels +carpet; but was unable to fix her attention on anything, and wandered +back to the window again. + +There was a flavour of wrong-doing in this adventure which troubled her. +The fear of being found out loomed with ugly insistence in the +foreground of her ideas. She wished he had been satisfied simply to +drive with her. This unforeseen development with its intimate +suggestion of confidential relations vexed her. Intuition told her that +in the circumstances he should have refrained from taking this step. + +Then the door opened again to admit him. He came in, confident and +smiling, and joined her where she stood at the window. + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +Prudence poured out the tea while Major Stotford sat with his back to +the light, attentively observant of her actions, causing her +considerable confusion by the intensity of his regard, and by the fact +that he had fallen upon a quite unusual silence and seemed content +simply to sit and watch her. + +"We must hurry," she said, handing him a cup. "If I cause them anxiety +at home through being late they will make such a fuss about my cycling +in future." + +"Oh, Lord!" he murmured. "What a nuisance a family can become. I wish +you were an orphan." He stirred his tea slowly, and smiled at her. +"You are living up to your name. Do you know, when I first heard it, I +thought it strangely unsuited." + +"I suppose you think me imprudent?" she said, without looking at him. + +"No; not that," he hastened to assure her. "But Prudence is such a +Puritanic appellation. It suggests a nun. I'm not sure on the whole +that I don't prefer Imprudence. It's purely a matter of taste." + +"Never mind my name," she said, and looked vexed. "You are not the +first to discover its unsuitability. Will you have another cup of tea?" + +"I haven't started on my first cup yet," he answered, and lifted it to +his lips to conceal his amusement. "You _are_ in a hurry. See here!" +He placed a gun-metal watch on the table beside his plate. "We'll give +it ten minutes. If you attempt to finish under you will ruin your +digestion. I would, if permitted a choice, allow half an hour for tea +and another half-hour for digestion; but since that doesn't fit in with +your wishes, I sacrifice mine. Try this plum cake; it's rather good. +The woman who runs this place was formerly a servant of mine, and her +plum cakes are excellent." + +He cut the cake into generous slices. Prudence took a slice and +pronounced it as good as he had promised. Although she had declared +that she was not hungry, with the food before her she discovered a very +healthy appetite. Her spirits began to revive. After all, it was +rather jolly having tea in this quaint place, with the autumn sunshine +streaming in through the little window and falling brightly across the +tea-table, till the honey in its glass pot shone like liquid amber, and +the dahlias, which Major Stotford had removed from the centre of the +table because they obstructed his view, were ruby red against the snowy +cloth. The sunlight fell too upon the man's dark hair and showed it +thinning on the top and about the temples. Prudence noted these things +with interest. She wondered what his age was, and decided that he was +older than he appeared. She began to feel more at ease with him. He +ate surprising quantities of cake in the limited time at his disposal, +and dispatched several cups of tea. At the expiration of the ten +minutes he returned the watch to his pocket and rose briskly. + +"Time's up," he said, coming round to her seat and standing over her +with his hand on the back of her chair. "I think I deserve thanks for +my self-sacrifice, don't you?" + +Prudence would have risen too, but it was impossible to do so without +coming into collision with him. She wished he would not stand so close. + +"I can't see where the self-sacrifice comes in," she replied. "You made +an excellent tea." + +He laughed and leant over her chair, so that their faces were on a +level. The expression in his eyes startled her. She jerked back her +chair quickly and stood up, but immediately his hand slipped to her arm +and held her. + +"Do you know," he said, "I think you are a little afraid of me." + +"Let me go--please!" She was thoroughly alarmed now. The old +uneasiness gripped her. She experienced again the sensation of being +trapped. And his eyes frightened her. They held hers with strangely +compelling force, and there was a look in them such as she had never +seen in a man's eyes before--such as she had never imagined human eyes +could express. "I wish you--wouldn't look at me--like that." + +The grip on her arm tightened. He drew her close to him, and his other +hand came to rest on her shoulder, slipped round her shoulders and held +her. + +"Look into my eyes," he said. "Don't be frightened. There is nothing +to be frightened about." + +"Oh, please!" said Prudence, near to tears. "Let me go." + +"In a minute," he returned softly. "I've something to say first. You +shy child, what are you afraid of? I've a great affection for you. You +are the dearest, sweetest little girl I have met for many a long year. +I want to be friends--now and for ever. And I'm going to seal the +compact right here." + +Swiftly with the words his clasp of her became vicelike. It was useless +for Prudence to struggle against him. Her resistance served only to +strengthen his resolve. He crushed her to him, set his lips to hers, +and kissed her--kissed her with a passion that was as a flame which +burned into her soul. Then he released her; and she fell back with a +gasp of anger, her face white, her eyes ablaze with rage and +mortification. She leaned with her clenched hand upon the tablecloth, +panting and inarticulate. He turned to give her time to recover, picked +his cap up from a chair, and faced round again deliberately. + +"I couldn't help it," he said; "you were so sweet. I've been wanting to +do that all the time. Don't look so tragic. I won't offend again." + +"How dare you?" she breathed; and with difficulty he forced back the +smile that threatened to break over his features. That was exactly what +he had expected her to say, what he had known she would say, as soon as +she found any voice to speak with. + +"I don't know," he said. "Upon my soul, I don't know how it happened. +I'm sorry--to have annoyed you. I'm not sorry about anything else. I +had to kiss you." + +"I want," Prudence said, with a faint sob in her voice, "to go home." + +"You aren't angry with me?" he said, and became suddenly humble. "You +aren't going to punish me? I'm really ashamed of my roughness. Forgive +me. Say you forgive me. I will not offend again. Please..." + +"I will never willingly speak to you again," Prudence said. "If I had +any means at all of getting back without you I wouldn't drive with you +now. Please don't say any more. Let us start at once." + +"You are as hard as a piece of flint," he said, "for all your sweetness. +I didn't think you could be so unkind. Come then!" + +He opened the door for her and followed her into the passage. From +across the passage the sound of merry voices broke upon their ears. +Major Stotford glanced in the direction from whence the sounds came, and +then glanced curiously at Prudence. She walked on, very erect and +quiet, with a white chilled face, and a hurt look in her eyes, seeming +to notice nothing. + +Once during the drive back he broke the silence which up to that moment +had endured between them since they had taken their seats in the car. +He had been driving at top speed; but they were nearing the inn where +they had left the bicycle, and he slowed the car down and turned his +face towards his quiet companion. + +"Prudence," he said, "you aren't for keeping it up, are you? I've +apologised. I'm really awfully sorry. Let bygones be bygones, won't +you? I wish I hadn't made such an ass of myself. You surprised and +delighted me. I didn't think you'd take it like that." + +"Major Stotford," Prudence returned with her face averted, "I have never +given you permission to use my name." + +He reddened angrily, turned his attention to the steering and made no +response. Nothing further passed between them. He let the car out, +taking, with a recklessness that at another time would have made the +girl nervous, the sharp curves of the winding road. Had they met any +traffic along the road his driving would have caused an accident, as it +was he nearly ran down a cyclist whom they overtook, and who saved +himself and his machine by riding into the hedge. + +Prudence's heart stood still on perceiving the cyclist. She had taken +one swift look at him as they rushed past, had met his eyes fully, eyes +in which indignation yielded to amazement and a most unflattering +criticism as they rested upon her face, which from white flamed swiftly +to a shamed distressed crimson in the moment of mutual recognition. + +The Rev Ernest Jones extricated himself and his bicycle from the hedge +and pursued the racing car. Why he pursued it he could not have +explained; he had certainly no hope of overtaking it, and he had no idea +that the car would come to a standstill shortly after passing him. He +discovered it half a mile further on at the bottom of the hill, with +Major Stotford standing beside it, and Prudence in the road, holding her +bicycle which the man at the inn had brought out for her. These +proceedings were nothing short of astounding. Mr Jones felt they +needed explaining. He put on a fresh spurt, and in a cloud of dust rode +almost into Prudence, and alighted. + +Major Stotford uttered an exclamation of disgust and started to beat the +dust from his clothes, while Prudence silently regarded her +brother-in-law, and he in turn surveyed the general grouping with +manifest disfavour in his curious eyes. + +"You are riding home," he said to Prudence, not in the manner of a +question, but simply stating a fact. "I will accompany you--when you +are ready." + +"I am ready now," she answered, and led her bicycle into the middle of +the road. + +Major Stotford, still beating the dust from his clothes, did not look +round. Mr Jones held his bicycle ready; he had no intention of +mounting until he had seen Prudence in the saddle. Instantly with the +placing of her foot on the pedal, Major Stotford swung round and +approached her. He held out his hand to her. + +"Just for appearances," he said in an undertone. "You must... It's too +silly... parting like that--before him." + +She shook hands gravely. He put his hand to his cap and stepped back. + +"Good-bye," he called after her. "Sorry you couldn't come for a longer +spin. I'm off to-morrow." + +He paid no attention to Mr Jones, who was already in pursuit of +Prudence, and ringing his bell fussily; he turned his back on him and +went into the inn for the purpose of washing some of the curate's dust +from his throat, reflecting while he did so that, had Prudence been more +reasonable, she would have avoided the parson. Despite the fact that he +felt annoyed with her, he regretted the complication of the meeting +which he foresaw would create new difficulties for her. + +"He'll tell of course," he mused. "He's the sneaking sort of little cad +who feels it his special mission in life to use the lash where he can. +Well, she ran into it, poor little Imprudence!" + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +Mr Jones was spared the necessity of describing the conditions under +which he had met Prudence by Prudence's own frank confession immediately +on her arrival at the house. She was either too proud to appeal to Mr +Jones' generosity, or she did not credit him with the possession of this +quality. He had quite expected an appeal from her, urging him to +secrecy in the matter, and was a little uncertain as to the attitude he +should adopt. But he was fully determined to improve the occasion with +spiritual advice and a little brotherly reproof; also he intended that +she should thoroughly appreciate his magnanimity in shielding her from +the consequences of her very indiscreet behaviour. And she spoilt his +pleasing role by refusing to give him the cue. This annoyed him, and +showed him plainly that his first duty was to his father-in-law, who had +every right to be informed of his daughter's indiscretions. He followed +Prudence into the drawing-room, the sense of responsibility sitting +heavily upon him, and was received by Mr Graynor and by his +sisters-in-law with marked cordiality. + +"You should have arrived earlier," Agatha said. "The tea is cold. +Where is Matilda?" + +"I didn't come from home," he answered. "I've just cycled in from +Hatchett. I've had tea, thanks." + +And then Prudence's bombshell was delivered. + +"So have I," she said. "I met Major Stotford, and we had tea at a +Cyclists' Rest." + +"You _did what_?" + +On any other occasion the scandalised horror in Agatha's voice would +have roused Prudence to a defiant retort; but the afternoon's experience +had subdued her spirit; she felt too crushed and miserable to resent her +sister's amazed anger, or to heed the exchange of significant glances +between the others. She was dimly aware that her father rose and +approached her, but the pained displeasure of his look left her unmoved. +It did not seem to her to matter particularly what happened, or what +they thought of her; she was past caring about such things. + +"I thought I had given you quite clearly to understand that I did not +wish you to pursue the acquaintance with Major Stotford," Mr Graynor +said. Prudence's eyes fell. "I believed I could trust you," he added +reproachfully; "and you don't even respect my wishes." + +"I will in future," she answered with unusual meekness. "It seemed +ungracious to refuse after his kindness." + +"More particularly when it was against your own inclination," broke in +Agatha. + +Mr Graynor raised a protesting hand. + +"Not now," he said. "We will speak of this later." + +And with a word of apology to Mr Jones, he left the room. Prudence +followed him into the hall. + +"Daddy, I'm sorry," she said, and caught at his sleeve; but, for the +first time within her memory, he repulsed her. + +"I don't want to hear any more," he said. "You have annoyed me +exceedingly." + +He went on, leaving Prudence to realise the enormity of her conduct, and +the hopelessness of expecting forgiveness in this quarter. She had +offended him deeply. She ran upstairs and locked herself in her bedroom +and sought relief from tears. + +The exasperating part of the affair lay in the wholly unnecessary +attitude of inflexible veto adopted by her family. Prudence was not +likely to repeat her mistake. Experience teaches its own lessons, and +her experience had been sufficiently humiliating without any additional +disgrace. She bore for a time with this state of affairs: when the +general hostility became insupportable she set her mind to work to +discover a remedy. As a result of this mental activity, Mr Edward +Morgan received one morning the letter for which he had so long and so +patiently waited. + +Mr Morgan read the letter in the privacy of his office, smiled, re-read +it, examined it from all angles, and promptly proceeded to answer it, a +light of satisfaction illumining his features as he wrote. + +And yet there was in the briefly worded note not much that a man could +have twisted into any meaning conveying particular encouragement; +nevertheless, the invitation for which he had waited had come at last; +that sufficed for Mr Morgan. + +"It is so dull," Prudence had written. "When are you coming to pay your +promised visit?" + +His answer read: + + "My dear Miss Prudence,-- + + "I was delighted to get your letter. It would be selfish on my part + to say that I am rejoiced to know you feel dull; but at least I cannot + express sincere regret since the admission is followed by what I have + been hoping for ever since we parted--your permission to visit you + again. I am coming immediately. I was only waiting for just this + dear little letter. + + "Yours very truly,-- + + "Edward Morgan." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Prudence when she read this letter, and bit her lip in +vexation, her face aflame at the thought that she had taken the +irrevocable step, and brought very close the moment for the great +decision of her life. + +She knew that he would ask her to marry him, that he would take her +consent for granted; and, although in sending the letter she had decided +upon taking this step, now that the thing was upon her she felt +reluctant and afraid. + +"You've done it now," she told herself, for the purpose of stiffening +her resolution. "You ought to have realised your doubts sooner. It is +impossible to draw back." + +Impossible to draw back! The finality of the phrase gripped her +imagination with the startled sensation of a lost cause. She had burnt +her boats. The prospect ahead was not entirely lacking in fascination; +but she wished none the less that some kind of raft might discover +itself on which she could retreat conveniently if the alternative proved +very distasteful. The thought of being kissed by Mr Morgan, as Major +Stotford had kissed her, the idea of giving any man the right to so kiss +her, filled her with sick apprehension. The whole process of +love-making thrilled her with disgust. + +She leaned from her window and looked out upon the glistening darkness +of the wet November night, and her thoughts became detached from present +complexities, and attuned themselves to memories that were becoming old. +They were nearly two years old, but they wore the stark vividness of +very recent things. She allowed her fancy to riot unchecked around +these bitter-sweet memories of a romance which had started from slumber +only to fall back again into sleep, a sleep no longer sound and +reposeful but disturbed by haunting dreams, dreams that were elusive and +disconnected, and which belonged to the might-have-been. There was no +shrinking from these dreams; they floated before her mind arrayed in the +gracious beauty of simple and sincere emotions. The thought of love, of +passion even, in this connection, had no qualm of revulsion in it. To +be held in strong arms a willing captive, to be kissed by lips to which +her own responded, that was a different matter. There would be no sense +of shame in that, only a great wonder and a vast content. + +"Dreams! dreams!" Prudence murmured, and listened to the falling of the +rain without--wet darkness everywhere, the dismal darkness of a winter +world sodden with the sky's incessant weeping. + +She clenched her hands upon the wet sill, and felt the rain drops on her +hair. + +"He is out there in the sunshine," she thought; "and I'm here in the +dark and the rain alone. It is easy to forget when the sun shines +always." + +Abruptly she drew back and closed the window and turned up the lights in +the room. + +"I wish he wasn't coming quite so soon," she said, crouching down by the +dying fire, a shivering, shrinking figure, with rain-wet hair, and eyes +which were wet also, but not with rain. + +The memories were shut out with the rain-washed night. She was back in +the present again, with the disturbing reflection that the morrow, the +last day of sad November, would see the arrival of Edward Morgan and the +end of her girlish dreams. + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +Mr Edward Morgan arrived on the following afternoon. Prudence watched +him from the window disentangling himself from the carriage rugs, and +fussing with the muffler which he wore wound carefully about his throat. +The wind was in the north-east, and he was subject to bronchitis. + +Swathed in wraps he did not cut a romantic figure: he looked what he +was, a prosperous, middle-aged man who valued his health and refrained +from taking liberties with it. Prudence told herself that he was wise +to be cautious, at the same time she wished that he was of an age at +which such caution was unnecessary. + +He mounted the steps, and was welcomed in the hall by Mr Graynor and +taken to the library for purposes of refreshment stronger than tea after +his cold and tedious journey. Later, he made his appearance in the +drawing-room, divested of his outdoor wear and improved on that account. +A subtle blending of whisky and cigar smoke emanated from his person, +of which Prudence was critically aware as she shook hands and replied to +his inquiries as to her health. He was in immense spirits, as became a +successful lover; also he was a little shy and nervously anxious to +please. + +He talked about his journey and discussed politics and business and the +weather; and Prudence listened, taking no part in the conversation, and +feeling grateful to him for refraining from addressing her directly. He +was, while intensely alive to her presence, seemingly unmindful of it. +He credited her, not without reason, with sharing his shyness; and was +anxious to give her time to get used to him and feel her way back to +their former easy relations. Miss Agatha received the greater part of +his attention, and in return pressed the hot scones on him hospitably. +He refused these on the plea that they gave him indigestion; but he +accepted cake, and a cup of the eighteenpenny tea, which he pronounced +excellent. + +"Mrs Morgan is well, I hope?" Miss Agatha inquired conversationally, +filling in one of those abrupt, unaccountable, and disconcerting pauses +in the talk, which flowed with even dulness between the hitches. + +"Thank you, yes. My mother enjoys excellent health. Henry's wife has +been laid up; they had to operate for appendicitis. She's about again +now. Henry and the boys are flourishing." + +There followed polite expressions of regret for Mrs Henry Morgan's +indisposition, broken into by the arrival of William, whose greeting of +Mr Morgan overflowed with cordiality. + +"Been looking to see you in these parts for months," he said. "Beastly +weather for travelling; the wind is cutting. Are those hot scones, +Prudence?" + +William was so accustomed to being waited upon by the different members +of his family that it never occurred to him to attend to his own needs. +He did not observe the flush of annoyance that overspread Prudence's +face, nor the reluctance with which she rose to fetch the scones in +question; Mr Morgan observed it, however, and was before her in +reaching the fireplace where the scones lay on a hot plate inside the +fender. He stooped for the plate; and the stiffness of his movements, +while apparent to Prudence, passed uncriticised on this occasion. +William protested loudly. + +"Oh, come!" he said. "You shouldn't do that. I can't allow a visitor +to wait on me. One of the girls will do it." + +Mr Morgan disregarded the remonstrance, refusing to relinquish the dish +of scones. + +"My mother brought me up to wait upon her," he said, smiling. "It comes +natural to me." + +Prudence felt pleased; but she had no faith in the lesson proving +beneficial to William; he would assuredly miss the point. + +"Well, you're a younger man than I," said William jocularly. "I +shouldn't show such energy after a long journey." + +Which speech, delivered for Prudence's benefit, William considered +particularly tactful. He had in mind his sister's reflections on Mr +Morgan's age. But Mr Morgan was not helpful. + +"I'm forty-three to-day," he acknowledged, with, in William's opinion, +quite unnecessary candour. "I decided on this date for making the +journey from sentimental reasons; it occurred to me as an altogether +agreeable way of celebrating the occasion." + +He did not look in Prudence's direction while he spoke, for which +consideration she was obliged to him: she felt the eyes of the rest +focussed upon herself, and guessed what was in their thoughts in +connection with these confidences. It did not in the least surprise her +to hear William playfully observe that they would have to contrive +something special in the way of entertainment to mark the event and make +this birthday a memorable one. He looked meaningly at Prudence, and +slyly at Mr Morgan, and remarked that birthdays conferred peculiar +privileges and gave a right to indulgence. But Mr Morgan repudiated +this. + +"At my age one doesn't insist on those prerogatives," he said. "The +only advantage I take of the day is to give myself pleasure. I have +done that." + +From which Prudence gathered to her relief that he did not intend to +press his suit that day. Nor did he. He rather skilfully evaded the +_tete-a-tetes_ with her, which every member of the household seemed in +conspiracy to bring about. He was giving her time to commit to heart +the lesson which he had told her he wanted her to learn. It was a +lesson which she could not master with him for teacher; but she came to +feel a very warm friendship for him, which in lieu of anything better +seemed not insufficient to begin with. + +Mr Morgan had been at Court Heatherleigh a week before he broached the +question of marriage with her; and Prudence, lulled into a sense of +security by his avoidance of the subject, doubted whether he intended to +propose to her, and was divided between a state of mortification and +relief. The proposal when it came startled her the more by reason of +this adaptation of Mr Morgan from the role he had been cast for to the +less romantic role of friend. It found her immensely unprepared, as the +delayed falling of anything long expected is apt to do when launched +suddenly and with irrelevant haste. She was altogether unaware of what +was in his mind at the moment when he sprung the thing upon her. + +They were playing billiards together after dinner, with Mary acting as +marker and making a third in the conversation that confined itself +almost exclusively to the game. Prudence, in the interest of making a +brake, did not observe when Mary left the room; she became aware of her +absence for the first time on looking round to call the score. Mr +Morgan marked for her. When he approached the table, instead of +playing, he laid his cue on the cloth and took Prudence's hand. + +"Come and sit down," he said, drawing her to the settee. "We'll finish +the game presently." + +Prudence relinquished her cue to him and sat down. He put the cue away +in the rack and seated himself beside her. + +"I've been a long time coming to my point," he said, coming to it rather +abruptly now that he was once started; "but I think you must have +understood my reason for delay. I did not want to hurry you. You know +why I came down... Prudence, will you marry me?" + +Prudence gave a little sigh, and sat perfectly still, staring with +amazed eyes at the neglected balls on the green cloth. Oddly, the +thought which struck her at the moment was that it was unnecessary to +break off in the middle of a game to ask her that. There was no need to +make opportunities; they were thrust at him. + +"Let me think," she said. "Give me time. You--startled me." + +"But you knew that I meant to ask you that question?" He took her hand +again and pressed it gently. "When you sent that letter, wasn't it +intended for permission to speak? I interpreted it that way." + +"I--don't--know." She was still for a moment; then she turned to him +and looked him uncertainly in the eyes. "I was very miserable when I +wrote that letter. Yes; I suppose that was what I meant--then." + +She broke off, and her gaze wandered away and came to rest again on the +balls. + +"It's silly of me," she said, speaking very low. "I feel a little +afraid." + +"Just shyness," he said reassuringly, stroking the hand which lay limply +in his. "I am old for you; but you will find me the more gentle, +possibly the more understanding, on that account. My darling, I love +you very dearly. You are so young--you don't know yet what love is. I +did not know either until recently. I come to it rather late. But my +feeling for you is very deep. Prudence, my dear, I want you. I love +you. If you give yourself to me I will do everything in my power to +make your life happy. Will you marry me, dear?" + +It seemed to Prudence that there was only one possible answer. She had +understood when she invited him to come down the significance of what +she did. She had no right to encourage him to hope and then fail in her +part. He was too good a man to play with. She kept her face averted +while she answered him, staring fixedly at the shining balls, lying +where her last stroke had left them placed conveniently, she realised +with grim appreciation of her mistake, for him to score off. + +"I want to be quite frank with you," she said, her breathing fast +through sheer nervousness, an earnest expression on her face, which he +thought very modest and gentle. "I don't love you, Mr Morgan,--not in +that way--not, I mean, as you love me. I've thought--I should like to +marry you. I think that still--only I'm afraid sometimes,--afraid that +you'll find me disappointing." + +He placed his arm very gently round her shoulders and held her so +without attempting any warmer caress. He smiled into her troubled eyes. + +"There is only one thing that could possibly disappoint me," he said, +"and that is if I fail to make you happy. Trust me, and all will be +well." + +And so Prudence secured her passage through the door which it seemed he +alone could open for her into those wider spaces where she imagined +freedom was to be found. But emerging with Edward Morgan at her side, +it gradually became clear to her that she was doubly fettered. In +blindly groping for her freedom she had given herself to a new and more +complete bondage. She would leave the old tyranny behind her, only to +pass to another condition of fresh and more pressing obligations. The +certainty of these things came to her with the realisation of her +distaste for her new responsibility. + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +Prudence insisted upon a long engagement. + +That was the first hitch in the amicable relations between her and her +fiance. Mr Morgan could see no reason why they should not marry +immediately. He had less time than she to waste, and he was impatient +of delay. But Prudence remained firm. She held out for a six months' +engagement; and Mr Graynor from purely selfish reasons ranged himself +on her side. He was glad that her choice had fallen so wisely on this +trusty friend of long standing. He could hand her over to the care of +Edward Morgan with no anxiety for her future well-being; but he did not +want to part with her too soon. When she was married the opportunities +for seeing her would be few, and he dreaded the separation. + +"Six months is not so very long," he told the exasperated Mr Morgan. +"And Prudence is only twenty." + +"If I were twenty," Mr Morgan retorted, "I might see the matter in that +light. Unfortunately I am not that age. But I shall have to exercise +patience, I suppose." + +He bought his fiancee a magnificent half hoop of diamonds, and slipped +it on her fingers, where it looked, Prudence considered, oddly out of +place. It was altogether too valuable for constant wear. She did not +tell him so for fear of hurting his feelings; but she wished that he +would buy her less extravagant gifts. Whenever he gave her anything it +was of the costliest description that he could procure. It seemed to +give him peculiar satisfaction to surround her with expensive things. +And he was amazingly kind and considerate for her unexpressed wishes. +Prudence never knew how much it cost him in self-restraint in those +early days of their engagement to keep under the ardour of his love for +her, and school his passionate desire to take her in his arms and kiss +madly her cool unresponding lips. He was wise, this mature lover. He +knew that he had to foster her kindly affection for him; that he would +need to tend and cherish it a long time before he could look to see it +blossom into love. But he did not despair. He believed that she would +give him eventually a full and willing response. + +The engagement brought unforeseen consequences in the form of +affectionate and intimate letters from the different members of Mr +Morgan's family. All these people were unknown to Prudence; yet they +wrote to her as though the prospective relationship admitted them to +terms of confidential familiarity. + +Old Mrs Morgan wrote approving her son's choice, and congratulating +Prudence on having won so excellent a husband. She was glad, she added, +that Prudence was young; she liked young people about her. She looked +forward to having Prudence on a visit, when she would instruct her in +regard to Edward's likes and dislikes, the care of his health, and other +matters of similar importance. + +Mrs Henry Morgan's letter was gushing and insincere in tone. As a +matter of fact Mr Morgan's sister-in-law was not very pleased to hear +of his engagement. She had come to regard him as a confirmed bachelor, +and her two sons, for whom she was very ambitious as quite certain of +inheriting their uncle's immense wealth. She had mapped out a brilliant +future for them in which Morgan Bros, played no part; and she considered +it indelicate on Edward's side to upset her plans by marrying--at his +time of life. + +"You are a brave little person," ran one passage in her letter; "a man +past forty is not adaptable. But I'll give you all sorts of wrinkles +how to manage him. And of course his mother will live with you. She +and I don't get on." + +"Of course his mother won't live with us," Prudence told herself. + +But she learned later that Mrs Henry's statement was correct. Old Mrs +Morgan had managed Edward's house always, and would continue to do so. + +"You will love her," he assured Prudence; "and most certainly she will +love you." + +An invitation to spend Christmas in Derbyshire followed; but Prudence, +panic-stricken at the thought of meeting these people, insisted on +spending her last Christmas at home; and it was finally settled that the +visit should be deferred till the spring, when Mr Morgan promised +himself the pleasure of fetching her to spend a fortnight with his +mother, and of bringing her home again at the finish of the visit. +There was little likelihood of seeing much of her in the interval; but +she promised to write to him regularly once a week, setting aside his +tentative suggestion that a daily correspondence would be welcome by +frankly admitting that she would find nothing to say. He was +disappointed. The ink on his own pen would not have dried from a dearth +of ideas. At forty-three a man's passion is no whit less ardent than +that of a boy of twenty; but the man knows how to practise restraint. +It was this knowledge which helped Edward Morgan over the difficulties +of his courtship with a girl whose heart he had yet to win, and to whom +passion was an unknown quantity. + +Prudence was rather sexless in those days. The realities of love and +marriage were mysteries to her. Marriage meant no more than the +solution of a problem that had occupied her attention on and off for +years. She saw no other way of obtaining her emancipation. And he was +very unexacting in his devotion, and patient and kind. + +The kindly attentions of Mr Morgan, the cessation of general +hostilities, and the patronising approval of brother William, effected a +wonderful clearance in the domestic atmosphere. Prudence was once more +in favour, and the indiscretions of the past were tacitly overlooked. +She discovered also that by virtue of her engagement she had achieved a +new importance in Wortheton social life. People called to offer their +congratulations; and the vicar talked affably of the imitative tendency +of marriage, seeming to ascribe Prudence's good fortune to the example +set by her sister. He informed Mr Morgan rather unnecessarily that he +was rich in this world's goods. + +Amid the general rejoicings Bobby alone stood aloof, critical and +disapproving and altogether unimpressed with the splendour of the match. + +"You don't need to marry money," he wrote. "There's more than enough of +the beastly commodity in the family as it is. And Morgan! ... Of +course he's all right in himself, and a good fellow; but he's more than +double your age. Imagine what you would say if I wanted to marry a +woman old enough to be my mother! Break it off, Prue. I'll be home +shortly, and I'll stand by you." + +Prudence shed a few surreptitious tears over this letter, though it +moved her to mirth as well; it was so characteristic of the writer. +But, save for glimpses during the holidays, Bobby had no idea of the +flatness of life at Court Heatherleigh, its repression, its sneaking +pose--there was no other term for it--of pious superiority which crushed +the spirit and the natural honesty of those upon whom its influence was +exerted. She was not marrying Mr Morgan for his wealth; she was not +marrying him for love. Her reasons, when she came to analyse them, +occurred to her singularly inadequate. She felt very doubtful as to the +wisdom of the step she had taken. The idea of a triangular household, +with a mother-in-law in supreme command, seemed to her rather like a +repetition of the unsatisfactory home conditions. She felt that Edward +Morgan owed it to her to set up a separate establishment, and even +ventured to suggest this rearrangement to him. He heard her in pained +surprise. + +"My mother will not intrude on us," he said. "Morningside has been her +home always. I could not agree to her living elsewhere." + +"Couldn't _we_ live elsewhere?" Prudence insisted. "I should like a +house of my own." + +"You don't understand," he said, with his hands on her shoulders, and +his grave eyes looking tenderly down upon her. "Home for my mother is +where I am." + +He stooped and kissed her as a sort of act of forgiveness for the want +of consideration she had shown. + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +On the morning that Edward Morgan left Wortheton it was arranged that +Prudence should drive with him to the junction and see the train off. +It was never clear to Prudence with whom the idea originated; it +certainly did not emanate from her own brain. She was even a little +embarrassed at the thought of the four-mile drive with her heavily +coated and bemuffled fiance, and the prospective ordeal of standing by +the door of his compartment during those exasperating, interminable +minutes before the starting of the train. + +She came downstairs into the hall dressed for the drive in a navy +costume which accentuated the girlish slenderness of her figure to +discover Mr Morgan winding his many wraps about him, and talking +cheerfully with her father and sisters, who were gathered together to +see him off. + +He paused in the business of buttoning his coat to inquire anxiously if +she were sufficiently warmly clad for the day, which was bright and +cold, with a touch of December frost in the air. She replied carelessly +that she did not feel cold; and Mr Graynor, with his arm about her +shoulders, remarked thoughtlessly: + +"Young blood, Morgan, defies the weather." + +"I think Prudence should wear a fur about her throat," Agatha said. "It +would look more suitable." + +Mary was despatched forthwith to fetch the unwanted addition, which, +when it appeared, Mr Morgan insisted on placing round her shoulders. +Prudence took her seat in the carriage, feeling oppressed with the +warmth of the sable and the confined heated atmosphere of the +artificially warmed brougham, with its windows carefully closed against +the cold clear air. She dragged at the fur impatiently. + +"I must take it off," she said. "I feel stifled." + +"All right," he acquiesced, and passed his arm round her waist in a +clumsy caress. "I'll keep you warm. Comfy, eh?" + +She smiled at him a little nervously. + +"You are just a mountain of clothes," she said. + +During the long drive Mr Morgan kept his arm about her, and held her so +closely that Prudence felt suffocated. She proposed letting down the +window part way; but Mr Morgan showed such alarm at the idea that she +did not persist. + +"You don't understand the risk," he said. "This winter travelling... +It's how people contract pneumonia, risking chills through open windows. +You don't know how to take care of yourself. It's time I took a hand +at it. I'm going to take great care of you, little girl,--all my life. +Open windows!--no! This open-air craze is the cause of most of the ills +of life." + +Prudence laughed. + +"I understood it was the cure for them," she replied. "I live in the +open air--and sleep in it." + +"Sleep in it!" he ejaculated in horrified accents. + +"Well, not actually that," she said; "but with the bedroom window wide-- +always." + +He stared at her. He had never supposed that any one, save those +undergoing the outrageous experiment of the new-fangled open-air cure, +which he considered stark madness, slept with open windows in the +winter. His own windows were always carefully secured and heavily +curtained. Occasionally, during the very warm summer months, he allowed +an inch at the top to remain open for purposes of ventilation. + +"You will grow wiser as you grow older," he said, and determined that on +that point anyhow he would have his own way. + +It was a relief to Prudence when they arrived at the station. She +walked on to the platform, declining to accompany Mr Morgan to the +booking-office while he procured his ticket. She wanted to fill her +lungs with fresh air before the further ordeal of final leave-taking; +and she wanted for a few minutes to be rid of his kindly presence, and +the necessity of responding to his lover-like advances. It was all so +dull and irksome; there was only one word which occurred to her as +applicable to the situation, and that was stodgy. The stodginess of it +was getting on her nerves. + +When finally the big over-coated figure emerged upon the platform and +came towards her Prudence felt a touch of compunction because she could +not return the smiling gladness of his look with eyes which expressed a +like pleasure at his approach; her own gaze was critical and entirely +matter-of-fact. + +His train was in. She opened the door of an empty compartment and stood +beside it. He joined her, waited until the porter had placed his +luggage on the rack, and dismissed him handsomely; then he motioned +Prudence to get into the compartment, and followed her quickly and +closed the door upon themselves. + +"We've just time," he said, "for a last good-bye." And took her in his +arms. + +She had never felt so embarrassed in his presence before, perhaps +because he had never before assumed so lover-like and determined an +attitude. He tilted back her face and kissed her lips, and continued to +hold and kiss her in this extravagant manner, despite the fact that +people passed the carriage at intervals and stared in as they passed. +Mr Morgan was indifferent to this manifest curiosity in his doings, and +his broad figure blocked the middle window and screened Prudence from +intrusive eyes. + +"Oh!" she said, and attempted to withdraw from his embrace. "The train +will be starting immediately. I had better get out." + +"Shy little girl!" he returned, and laughed joyously. "You've never +been very free with your kisses, Prudence; and it will be a long time +before I see you again. All right! You shall get out now. One good +kiss before I let you go." + +He fairly hugged her. Prudence gave him a cool hasty peck on the cheek, +slipped from his hold, and was out on the platform as soon as he opened +the door. He closed the door and fastened it and leaned from the window +to talk to her, holding her hand until the guard's flag waved the signal +for her release. + +"Good-bye, my darling," he called to her. + +Prudence stood back and waved her hand to him, waved it gaily with a +glad sense of relief. The last she saw of him as the train began to +move out of the station was his grave face regarding her mournfully as +he pulled up the window before settling down in his corner. + +Prudence hurried out to the waiting carriage with her thoughts in a +whirl. This business of being engaged was an altogether perplexing +affair. She had not expected things to be like this somehow. She did +not know quite what she had expected; but she had never imagined that +the stolid Edward Morgan could assume the role of lover and confidently +look for a similar response from her; she had believed he would maintain +the more dignified attitude of a warm and affectionate friendliness +throughout their engagement; and she felt vexed and cheated because he +had disappointed her in this belief. + +"It's absurd," she told herself, with her hot face turned to the sharp +crisp air which came through the open window, "for him to imagine I am +going to let him make love to me when I only want him to be nice and +kind always." + +But she began dimly to apprehend that the absurdity was likely to go on. + +Bobby came home for the Christmas holidays and talked to her seriously +of the mistake she was making. He did not look forward to the prospect +of coming home finally to find Prudence gone; and the next term at +school was his last. + +"Beastly rotten it will be here without you," he remarked. "You might +have waited, Prue, a little longer. You don't love old Morgan, do you?" + +That was a poser for Prudence. + +"I'm fond of him," she answered guardedly. "He's kind, and generous. +When I am married I shall be able to do as I like." + +"Rot!" he retorted. "It will mean simply exchanging one dulness for +another. Then you'll vary the dullness by falling in love with some one +else, and there'll be a scandal. I know you. You'll never settle down +to a stick-in-the-mud existence with old Morgan. And serve him jolly +well right for being such an ass." + +Prudence regarded him with newly awakened interest, her expression +slightly aggrieved. + +"I had no idea you held such a low opinion of me," she said. + +He laughed. + +"That's human nature, old girl. If you intend to remain faithful to old +Morgan you'll not have to look at another man, because when the right +man comes along you'll know it; all the wedding rings in the world won't +keep you blind to facts. You chuck the silly old geyser," he counselled +in the inelegant phraseology he affected, "before you tie your life into +a hopeless knot." + +She shook her head. + +"It's not so easy," she said. + +"They'd be down on you, of course. But I'd stand by you. We'd worry +through." + +"I didn't mean that." She attempted explanations. "He's so good and +kind. You don't understand. I'd feel the meanest thing on the face of +the earth if I hurt him deliberately like that. And there isn't any +need. I _want_ to marry him." + +"There's no accounting for tastes, of course," he said rudely, and flung +out of the room in a mood of deep disgust. + +The whole business of Prudence's engagement was profoundly exasperating +to him. It obtruded itself at unexpected moments with an insistence +that was to his way of thinking indecent. It interfered with his +arrangements. So many hours of her time were given to letter writing +that the size of the weekly epistle was ever a matter of suspicious +amazement to him. He had no means of knowing how long those bald +sentences which Prudence sprawled largely with a generous marginal space +over the sheet of notepaper took in their composition. He suspected +that she wrote reams to the fellow and posted them on the sly. + +The regular arrival of Mr Morgan's weekly effusion was a further +irritation. This was handed usually to Prudence across the breakfast +table with ponderous playfulness on brother William's part, and a show +of sly surreptitiousness, that drew general attention to the transit +from his pocket to her reluctant hand. + +The sorting of the letters was accompanied by such facetious subtleties +as "Do we behold a billet doux?" or the murmured misquotation: "He sent +a letter to his love." And the bulky envelope would be passed to her to +the accompaniment of appreciative giggles from his sisters, and received +by Prudence with as unconcerned an air as the trying circumstances made +possible, and left by her lying unopened on the table exposed to the +general gaze while she finished her meal. She carried her letter away +with her and read it in the privacy of her room. + +"I can't think how you stand it," Bobby said once, when they were alone +together. "If Uncle William made such fatuous remarks to me I'd hit +him." + +"I won't give him the satisfaction of seeing how he annoys me," she +answered. "William would vulgarise the most sacred thing." + +"You aren't for calling this luke-warm affair sacred, I hope?" Bobby +asked with fine sarcasm. Whereupon she smiled suddenly and pulled his +scornful young face down to hers and kissed it. + +"It's one way out," she explained; and he was silent in face of the +reasonableness of her reply. + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +Christmas came and brought with it Edward Morgan's gift to his fiancee, +a rope of pearls, so beautiful and costly that Prudence, on taking the +shining thing from its bed of velvet, and holding it in her hands, was +moved with a sense of remorse at the inadequacy of the return she was +making this man, who showered gifts upon her in token of his love. She +did not want his presents; they were an embarrassment and a distress. + +The thought of wearing the pearls, as in the letter which accompanied +them he requested her to do, on Christmas night, was distasteful to her +on account of the continuous flow of witticism she would be forced to +meet from William, who already had revealed a new inventiveness on +presenting the registered package to her, and had manifested open +curiosity as to its contents, which she had failed to gratify. And she +dreaded the cold criticism of Bobby's appraising eye. Bobby would +possibly refrain from verbal comment, but his face would express the +more. + +She locked the pearls away and decided that she would show them to no +one; she would ignore the request that came with them. In any case they +were too valuable to wear at a quiet dinner at home, at which the only +guests would be Matilda and her husband, who, still in uncertainty as to +his living, waited on in Wortheton in hopeful expectation. To wear the +pearls in Ernest's presence, and suffer William's sly pleasantries +unmoved, was more than she felt equal to. Ernest, through the medium of +his wife, had expressed amazement at her engagement, which he attributed +to worldly considerations. + +"She is incapable of appreciating the seriousness of marriage," he had +told Matilda. "Her mind is light and inclines to frivolity, and +material advantages." + +That his own inclination had been towards a comfortable income, was a +point he was apt to overlook. + +Prudence found some difficulty in writing a sufficiently appreciative +acknowledgment of her lover's gift. She hated the necessity for +expressing a pleasure which she did not feel. + +"Your present is much too beautiful," she wrote. "I don't know how to +thank you. I am overpowered. You give such wonderful things..." + +She added nothing about locking the pearls away, but left it to his +imagination to picture her, as he had said he would do, shining in all +her girlish beauty with his pearls about her throat. She determined to +take them with her to Morningside when she went in April. If he wished +to see her wearing pearls, she would gratify him then. + +The visit to Morningside hung over her like a nightmare. She was not +allowed to forget it; Mr Morgan continually referred to it in his +letters. He was having the whole place re-decorated for her; and he +wrote consulting her preference in the matter of wall-papers, and her +taste in tapestries. The furnishing of the house was Victorian; and he +feared she might consider it a little heavy and inartistic. He wanted +her to express her wishes in regard to furniture and other matters. But +Prudence, taking alarm at the thought of this responsibility, flung the +onus of everything on to him, and insisted that the furniture which had +sufficed hitherto would assuredly serve for her needs. She did not want +anything changed. This proved disappointing to him. He would have +liked her to show a greater interest in the home which was to be hers. +Her indifference chilled his enthusiasm in the plans he was making for +her pleasure; and the arrangements were left more and more in the +entirely capable hands of the decorator. "We can alter things later," +he told himself. "And Prudence can buy any new stuff she wants." + +The agreeable prospect of shopping with her compensated for the earlier +disappointment. It would be so much pleasanter to choose things +together. + +When she first beheld Morningside Prudence thought it the ugliest house +she had ever been in; but later, when better acquainted with its solid +splendour, she decided that it had possibilities, and was really a nice +house made to look ugly. There was a dingy serviceable effect about +everything. + +She arrived on a fine evening in April, soft and balmy, following a day +of intermittent showers and blazing sunshine. Mr Morgan accompanied +her. He had spent the week-end at Wortheton, and made the journey back +with her, as had been arranged. His manner during the journey was +kindly and attentive. He displayed great consideration for her comfort, +and, because she enjoyed fresh air, lowered one window a couple of +inches and buttoned his coat from fear of the draught. The absence of +lover-like attentions, which he had sufficient perception to see +disturbed her, reassured Prudence, and placed their relations on an +easier footing. + +When she arrived at his home and was conducted to the drawing-room to be +received by his mother, she was conscious of a new feeling in regard to +him; he inspired her with a sense of support. She turned to him +instinctively as to some one reliable and familiar; and was grateful to +him when he slipped his hand within her arm and kept it there while they +advanced together down the long room to where old Mrs Morgan, stout and +severe of feature, sat in a big chair, quietly observant of her, +scrutinising her in the close disconcerting way peculiar to +short-sighted people. + +"This is the daughter I promised you, mother," Edward Morgan said. + +Mrs Morgan rose slowly and confronted them. She took the girl's +outstretched hand. + +"What a child!" she said, and bent forward and kissed Prudence on the +cheek. + +She was, nor did she hide it altogether successfully, a little +disappointed. Edward had prepared her for a young daughter-in-law, but +she had not expected to see any one quite so youthful in appearance. +Comparing them as they stood side by side, the disparity in age struck +her unpleasantly. + +"My dear," she said, "I had not realised you were so young." + +"I don't think I realised it myself," Prudence returned, feeling her +courage oozing away before the hard scrutiny of those critical eyes, +"until to-day. I've an unfledged feeling since leaving home. But I'm +twenty." + +Twenty! And the man who proposed to make her his wife might, had +circumstances so ordained it, have been her father. + +"She'll grow up, mother," Mr Morgan observed, and pressed the girl's +arm reassuringly. "I must try to equalise matters by growing younger +myself." + +But the old lady was not encouraging. + +"You won't succeed, Edward. It's like planting a bulb the wrong way in +the soil; it grows against nature downwards, curves about, and works its +way to the surface, crooked. Prudence will have to grow to you; you +can't go backwards." + +He reddened and laughed a little constrainedly. + +"I feel as young as I did at twenty," he said. "Prudence will help to +rejuvenate me. I refuse to be discouraged." + +He crossed to the tea-table, poured the girl out a cup of tea, and +brought it to her. + +"We've had a tiring journey," he said. "I expect you'll be glad to go +to your room and rest. There's a family gathering to-night--in your +honour." He smiled down into the startled upraised eyes, and added: +"Just my brother and his wife. You'll find Mrs Henry amusing. She's +very eager to meet you." + +"Rose always gushes over new acquaintances," Mrs Morgan interposed. +"She is making plans for Prudence's entertainment, although I told her +that Prudence was coming for the purpose of making our acquaintance, and +might prefer to avoid festivities. I think she might have waited to +consult her wishes." + +"Oh!" cried Prudence, with a ring of pleasurable excitement in her +tones. "But that's awfully kind of her." + +"You see," Mr Morgan said, enjoying the sight of her pleasure, and +feeling grateful to his sister-in-law for her forethought, "the idea is +not amiss. We are out for amusement and agreeable to anything that +offers. Rose's plan is excellent." + +"Rose is glad of any excuse for gaiety," Mrs Morgan said. "It is +ridiculous for a woman of her age, with two big boys, to amuse herself +in the undignified manner in which she does. There is to be a dance +next week. She says it will introduce Prudence to the neighbourhood. +In reality it is an excuse for indulging in a form of exercise which she +has outgrown." + +"Do you enjoy dancing, Prudence?" Mr Morgan asked. + +Her sparkling eyes answered him. + +"Oh! yes," she murmured eagerly, and was conscious from the expression +on Mrs Morgan's face, of giving offence. "I've never been to a dance-- +a real dance in my life," she added. + +"Too much thought is given to amusement nowadays," Mrs Morgan observed. +"When I was a girl we seldom went to evening parties. Late hours rob +young people of their freshness, and these modern dances are very +vulgar. Edward dislikes dancing." + +"Oh! once in a way I can put up with that sort of thing," he interposed +quickly. "If Prudence enjoys it, I expect I shall get some pleasure out +of the evening." + +Prudence gave him a grateful look, and, in reward for his consideration, +remarked: + +"It's fortunate that I brought my pearls. It's such a splendid +opportunity for wearing them. You didn't prepare me for these +festivities." + +"Upon my word," he returned, laughing, "I never gave it a thought." He +became aware of his mother's silence, her tight-lipped disapproval, and +turned the subject diplomatically. "There's a busy time ahead for you. +We've quite a lot of things calling for your attention. And my mother +is looking forward to showing you over the house, and letting you into +the inner mysteries. She is quite a wonderful housewife." + +"Prudence is probably not domesticated," Mrs Morgan said. "Girls show +no interest in their homes nowadays. Things are left to servants." + +"I've never had much chance," Prudence explained apologetically. "You +see, I am the youngest of six daughters. But I'd like to learn." + +Mr Morgan considered her gentle submissiveness very sweet. He was +surprised at his mother's lack of response to this softly-voiced desire; +for himself, he felt a strong temptation to kiss the pretty timid face +of the speaker, but his natural shyness restrained him from obeying this +impulse. + +"Six woman are too many in one household," Mrs Morgan vouchsafed. +"Some of you ought to have married." + +"One of us has," Prudence answered. + +"And another is going to," Mr Morgan put in, with a tentative smile at +his fiancee. She laughed softly. + +"It suggests the rhyme of the ten little nigger boys," she said. "Six +women in one house; one of them married, and then there were five." + +Later, when Prudence had gone upstairs to her room, Mrs Morgan voiced +her opinion of her to her son in a single expressive phrase. + +"I am afraid, Edward, that your choice has fallen on a rather frivolous +girl." + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +Alone in the spacious bedroom allotted to her, Prudence spent the rest +time allowed her before dinner in the indulgence of her favourite +occupation, leaning from the window, lost in a maze of thought. It +struck her very forcibly with not the slightest intimation of doubt that +six women in a household were less assertively too many than two women-- +two women with conflicting interests and equal authority. She +determined that she would not consent to live with a mother-in-law. It +was very plain to her that in the event of Mrs Morgan sharing their +home, the combined wills of mother and son would force her inevitably to +regulate her life on the lines which habit and tradition inclined them +naturally to follow. She did not aspire to excel as a housewife; nor +did she wish to avoid late hours and unwholesome excitement, and develop +a horror of draughts and a cautious regard for her digestion. Mr +Morgan was obliged to live simply. His diet consisted mainly, it seemed +to Prudence, of boiled mutton and milk puddings. Mrs Morgan had +impressed these important details on her in the drawing-room while she +drank her tea. Any departure from this rigorous self-denial was +followed by tribulation. And invariably he drank a glass of hot water +the last thing before retiring. + +Old Mrs Morgan partook of hot water also. She proposed that Prudence +should adopt this excellent custom. + +"It is so good for every one," she had explained to Prudence's immense +embarrassment. "It flushes the kidneys." + +Recalling this amazing statement in the solitude of her room, Prudence +was moved to quiet mirth. + +"A kidney bath," she reflected with a flash of malicious humour at Mrs +Morgan's expense, "before bedtime. Excellent practice! I must +certainly introduce Bobby to the beverage. We'll call it K.B. I +suppose I'm expected to dine off boiled mutton every night, and wash it +down with K.B. What a prospect! I wonder whether his mother suspects +that when he is away from home Edward strengthens his nightly tonic with +whisky." + +Prudence lingered at the open window until the first gong, booming +through the house, roused her from her meditations to the disquieting +realisation that she must dress and go down and face a resumption of +these surprisingly intimate confidences. Mrs Morgan had given her to +understand that she was to be fully informed in everything relating to +Edward's well-being and comfort. The first duty of a wife, indeed the +duty which embraced all others, consisted in having always in mind a +regard for her husband's wishes and care for his health and happiness. + +"I fail to see where I come in," Prudence thought. "Presumably my +wishes don't count." + +Mr Morgan was waiting for her alone in the drawing-room when she +descended. He came forward quickly at sight of her and took her in his +arms and kissed her gently. + +"I want to thank you," he said, "while I have the opportunity, for your +sweetness and patience. My mother has coddled me so long; she loves +doing it; and I let her because--well, because she is my mother. But +don't be alarmed into believing I am the faddist she would make me +appear. You will find, when we are married, it is I who will do the +thinking for both. Don't worry your pretty head with trying to absorb +these ideas. They amuse her; we need not distress ourselves about +them." + +Prudence looked up at him with a smile in her wide blue eyes. + +"Have I really to see to the airing of your flannels before you change?" +she asked. + +He laughed with her. + +"There is an airing cupboard. I don't think you need bother. But I +believe she does." + +"You really are a reassuring person," she said, and held up her face to +him to be kissed. + +"You are crumpling your shirt, Edward," Mrs Morgan said, entering the +room at the moment, a commanding figure in black silk and fine old lace, +with a critical eye on their grouping and an absence of sympathy in her +look. + +Prudence moved away quickly with the feeling that she had been rebuked. + +The Henry Morgans arrived exactly five minutes in advance of dinner, and +were received with restrained cordiality, and duly presented to +Prudence. Mrs Henry, a bright little woman in the middle thirties, +with a gay audacity of manner and a ready infectious laugh, took +Prudence by the shoulders and kissed her effusively. Then she held her +off at arm's length and scrutinised her closely. + +"It is absurd," she remarked, her amused eyes on the girl's blushing +face; "you'll take precedence of me. You're the senior partner, you +know. We really ought to change husbands." + +"Prudence is better suited to a serious-minded husband than you are, +Rose, in everything but years," old Mrs Morgan retorted. + +Mrs Henry did not appear to resent this remark. She and her +mother-in-law never met without an interchange of polite hostilities. + +"Now you know where to place me," she said to Prudence. "I'm the little +lump of leaven amid the dough of Morgan responsibility. You and I have +got to be friends. I've been blessing Edward ever since he broke the +amazing news for introducing something youthful into the firm. We +didn't expect it of him." + +The gong broke in on these indiscretions with its booming summons to the +dining-room. Prudence went in with her fiance, and faced Henry Morgan +and his wife at table. Henry was a younger edition of his brother, and +not much more animated. It occurred to Prudence that Mrs Henry struck +a bright note of contrast amid the semitones of the Morgan household. + +Mrs Henry could on occasions make herself peculiarly offensive to her +mother-in-law; but it suited her to cultivate Prudence's acquaintance, +and so she exercised for that evening a certain tact in fencing with +Mrs Morgan that gave no substantial ground for disagreement. She +contrived none the less to reveal Edward's mother to his fiancee in an +altogether unfavourable light. + +"Mother is such an autocrat," she remarked once laughingly. "I suppose +that is due to the fact that she has never had a daughter." + +"If I had had a daughter," Mrs Morgan replied, "I would have brought +her up to respect authority." + +"You'll be able to practise on Prudence," Mrs Henry suggested +pleasantly, giving the old lady, who was more shrewd than she suspected, +an insight into her game. She was trying to prejudice Prudence against +her. + +Mrs Morgan said nothing; but she determined to counterstroke that move. +With the laudable desire of getting on to easier ground, Edward Morgan +spoke of the coming dance and Prudence's anticipatory pleasure. Mrs +Henry discussed it happily. + +"I love dancing," she confessed to Prudence. "And of course I knew you +would. It's one way of giving you a glimpse of the aborigines. They +are a dull lot on the whole. And I'm afraid we'll be short of dancing +men. I shall have to import a few. I'm glad you approve of the idea; +mother, of course, doesn't." + +"You could scarcely expect dancing to appeal to me at my time of life," +Mrs Morgan observed, her short-sighted eyes scrutinising her +daughter-in-law's face with unflattering attentiveness. "I confess to +surprise that it should still attract you so strongly. But for Prudence +it is a different matter. At her age dancing is quite suitable. Since +Edward is willing to accompany her, I am sure she will enjoy it." She +smiled agreeably at Prudence. "I shall enjoy hearing all about it +afterwards." + +Mrs Henry had not calculated on this neat turning of her weapon of +offence, and was temporarily at a disadvantage. But she recovered from +her surprise with astonishing quickness. + +"She will be able to tell you of her many conquests," she said. "It +will amuse you to hear of her triumphs." + +"I pay Prudence the compliment of believing her to be neither silly nor +vain," Mrs Morgan returned. "If she made conquests she would not boast +of them." + +"I'm unfortunate," Mrs Henry remarked plaintively. "I am always saying +the wrong thing." She glanced at Prudence with a swift upward lift of +her eyelid, and added: "I shall have to borrow a leaf from your book of +deportment. You don't look as good as they would have me believe; but," +and she turned her eyes to where Edward Morgan sat beside his fiancee, +and let them rest contemplatively on his solid figure, "I suppose you +really are seriously inclined." + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +During the days which followed Prudence strove continually to overcome +her prejudices and adapt herself to Mrs Morgan's ways. She tried, too, +to blind herself to what she now realised for an unalterable fact, that +her engagement was a mistake. She did not love Edward Morgan. She did +not like his mother, nor his home, nor the life they led. Mrs Henry's +humorously sarcastic criticisms of the Morningside establishment did not +annoy her. She was often amused by them, and allowed Mrs Henry to see +it. Afterwards, removed from Mrs Henry's influence, her conscience +rebuked her for disloyalty. + +She liked Mrs Henry on account of her brightness, and spent more time +with her than old Mrs Morgan approved of. Mrs Henry kept open house +for her bachelor friends, of whom she had a number, and she took a +malicious pleasure in getting Prudence to help in the business of +entertaining. + +"You'll meet these men at my dance," she said. "I want you to know them +first; it makes it so much more agreeable." + +Prudence thought so too. She failed to understand old Mrs Morgan's +objection. It was absurd to suppose that she must avoid all other male +society on account of her engagement. + +These brief lapses into an almost Bohemian gaiety under Mrs Henry's +chaperonage, made the Morningside household more noticeably dull. The +evenings were particularly dreary. Mrs Morgan insisted upon playing +patience after dinner, three-handed to include Prudence, and +necessitating the use of three packs of cards which made for confusion +in dealing. Prudence was dense in learning the game, and would have +preferred to sit out, but was not allowed to; it was imperative that she +should share in the amusement. It did not amuse her; and the +concentration necessary in following the play made conversation +impossible. + +"Edward and I play every night," Mrs Morgan explained. "When he is +absent I play a single-handed patience. But that isn't so interesting. +Now when he has to leave home you will be able to play with me. That +will cheer us during his absences, and will be nicer for me." + +Prudence began to feel very much as a fish must when caught in a net. +The desire to escape was imperative; but the net tightened hourly; there +appeared no weak places in it. And Edward Morgan himself was so +amazingly kind, and equally amazingly obtuse. He appeared entirely +unaware of the vain longing for escape which dominated Prudence's mind, +and made her increasingly restless because of that gradual closing of +the net which made retreat day by day more seemingly impossible. + +Old Mrs Morgan gave a dinner party for the purpose of introducing +Prudence formally as her son's betrothed wife to his and her immediate +friends. Prudence was obliged to stand beside her with Edward and +receive these guests as they arrived, and listen to their +congratulations and utter little stereotyped phrases in acknowledgment +of their good wishes. + +There was no way out of the muddle that she could see. She had sealed +and ratified her engagement by this visit to her fiance's home. + +The dinner party produced a curious state of reaction. Apathetic +resignation to the inevitable followed upon this amazingly dull +ceremony. She must go through with what she had undertaken and make the +best of the bargain. The hope of keeping a separate establishment from +Mrs Morgan was as forlorn as the hope of escape had been. Neither +mother nor son, she knew, would suffer the arrangement. They would wear +down her opposition with the firm kindliness with which those in +authority overrule the undisciplined complainings of youth. None the +less, she felt that the imposition of a mother-in-law was unfair. Had +Mr Morgan raised this condition at the time of his proposal she would +not have agreed to it. + +The night of Mrs Henry's dance was to witness another reaction. +Prudence's mood varied so continually during the brief visit to Mr +Morgan's home that it might be said to shift like the compass with each +fresh breath of criticism that greeted the intelligence of her +engagement. She was painfully sensitive on the subject. + +She had looked forward to this dance, the success of which in regard to +partners was secured in advance, with much pleasure. It was a new +experience for her. She dressed that evening with unusual care, and was +conscious on surveying the finished result in the glass of looking her +best. When she went downstairs old Mrs Morgan's dim eyes noticed only +that she appeared extraordinarily young and immature; there was a +suggestion of the ingenue in the fresh girlish prettiness, emphasised by +her white dress and the childlike expression in the wide blue eyes. + +At sight of her, flushed and happy, and wearing his pearls about her +throat, Edward Morgan was moved to an infinitely tender admiration. The +thought of the appraising eyes of other men resting upon her, of her +being held in familiar closeness by the partners who would claim the +privilege of dancing with her, gave him a queer stab of jealousy. He +would have preferred that she should dance only with himself. + +"You look like a bride," he said, and bent over her and kissed her lips. + +Both speech and manner disconcerted Prudence. Her glance fell, and the +flush in her cheeks deepened. + +"I'm glad you think I look nice," she said. + +He put her into the motor, and sat beside her, a silent abstracted +figure, enveloped in a heavy fur-lined coat. Concern for the thinness +of her attire and fear of draughts occupied him during the brief drive. +Prudence was relieved when they reached the house and she was free from +his fussy guardianship. + +He was waiting for her when she emerged from the cloak-room, and he +tucked her hand under his arm with an air of conscious proprietorship +and led her through an admiring group of men to where the hostess stood +with her husband receiving their guests. + +"How sweet you look. Prudence!" Mrs Henry said. + +"How do? Awfully glad to see you," murmured Mr Henry, repeating his +formula parrotwise to each arrival. + +Edward Morgan passed gravely on into the ball-room with his fiancee. He +felt nervous and out of his element. Functions of this description +always bored him; he possessed no small talk, and dancing seemed to him +a foolish pastime. Nevertheless he claimed two dances from Prudence, +whose programme filled rapidly; and, having danced the first dance with +her, retired to the outskirts, and leaned against the doorpost, watching +the moving scene with eyes that looked with jealous insistence for +Prudence's figure among the gay throng of dancers. Mrs Henry, who +found time among her distractions to observe him, drew her husband's +attention to the lounging figure, with the whispered injunction: + +"For goodness' sake take him into the card-room! He is making himself +ridiculous." + +But Mr Morgan refused to be beguiled into the card-room. He maintained +a determined stand near the door; and Prudence, whenever she left the +room with her partner in search of rest at the finish of a dance, was +conscious of his hungry watchfulness and the look of grave +dissatisfaction in his eyes. She wished that he would not watch her; it +was embarrassing. + +"He doesn't look much like the hero of the evening," one unconscious +partner remarked to her as he steered her carefully through the press of +people. "I wonder which is the lucky lady?--Some one with her eyes wide +to the main chance, I imagine. I've been amusing myself with trying to +pick her out. She is not conspicuous through attentiveness to him, +anyhow. Do you know her?" + +"Yes," Prudence admitted, with face aflame. + +"Oh, I say! Point her out to me, will you? I am a new-comer, and out +of the know." + +"No; I don't think I will." + +"That's the reproof courteous," he returned, slightly nettled. "You +consider my remarks in bad taste." + +"I think them indiscreet," she answered. "You wouldn't feel very happy +for instance if I laid claim to the honour." + +It never occurred to him to treat this speech seriously. He laughed as +though it were a huge joke. + +"I'm not such a fool as I look," he said. "It was because I knew it was +safe that I spoke so unguardedly to you." + +Later on in the evening he had cause to remember his indiscretion and to +regret it. He noticed her with Edward Morgan, and observed with +amazement the intimacy of the terms that held between them. It flashed +into his mind with disconcerting conviction that what he had believed to +be a joke was no jest after all. He had seen Mr Morgan speak to no one +else, dance with no other partner. He pushed his inquiries further, and +learned to his ever-increasing discomfiture that it was to Mr Morgan's +fiancee he had made his unguarded remarks. + +CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. + +That night Prudence asked Edward Morgan for her release. The dance to +which she had looked forward so gladly, and which she had not enjoyed, +had galvanised her into a fixed determination to secure her freedom +while yet there was time. The thought of marriage with a man so much +older than herself, with whom she had nothing in common, whose every +wish opposed itself in gentle opposition to her own, had become a +nightmare to her. Young eyes had looked into her eyes that night with a +wondering question in them that had hurt her. The hunger for young +companionship gripped her. Her memory echoed the careless inconsequent +chatter, the joyous laughter of irresponsible youth. One laugh in +particular, an amused incredulous laugh, rang in her ears like a +reproach. + +Why had she committed this folly? She must draw back before it was too +late. + +With manifest nervousness Prudence made her faltering appeal for release +from her engagement during the homeward drive. Mr Morgan was amazed. +He keenly resented her lack of consideration for himself in wishing to +withdraw her promise after the publicity given to their engagement. She +shrank back from the cold anger in his eyes and the hardness of his +voice when he answered her. + +"You are overwrought," he said. "You don't know what you are saying. +What have I done, that you should wish to break off your engagement? I +have striven to please you, to make you happy. Do you realise that in +less than two months we are to be married? You would make me +ridiculous. People will laugh. It will be scandalous." + +His voice gathered anger as he considered the amusement that would arise +at his expense when it became known that the young bride he had chosen +had jilted him--jilted the wealthy Edward Morgan almost on the eve of +the wedding. + +"It is absurd!" he added. "You don't realise what you ask." + +"Oh, please!" she cried, and turned a white frightened face towards him. +"Don't be angry with me. I'm so sorry. I ought never to have become +engaged to you. I don't love you." + +He sounded a note of impatience. + +"You raised that point at the time when I proposed," he said. "I +thought we had settled that. Love will come with marriage. I have +enough for both." + +"Don't you see that that only makes it worse?" she said in a voice that +shook with nervousness. "I can never love you. I know that now. I've +tried. Oh! please be generous and forgive me. I am so sorry for +causing you pain. I'm so sorry." + +She broke down, and sat huddled in a corner of the motor, and sobbed. + +Mr Morgan sank back in his corner and stared out at the darkened +street. Never in his life had he felt so annoyed and upset. At the +back of his mind lurked the uncomfortable conviction that he had been a +fool, that his world would call him a fool, an old fool for falling in +love with a pretty face. + +He wished he had never seen Prudence, wished that he had never asked her +to become his wife. Since he had asked her and she had accepted him, he +had no intention of acceding now to her absurd request for release. She +was placing him in a most invidious position. She seemed to have no +appreciation of what was right and due to him. It would be necessary to +make her see that he had to be considered in this as well as herself. +He thought of his mother, of the annoyance this would cause her. He +determined to ask her to intercede with the girl in his behalf. It was +impossible that she should retract from her promise at the eleventh +hour. + +He sat in a heavy silence, his imagination busy with the awkwardness of +this disastrous crisis in his hitherto pleasant life, until the motor +turned in at his own gates and stopped in front of the house. He got +out, and, leaving Prudence to follow, walked up to the door which he +opened with his latchkey. He waited for her in the warm, dimly-lit +hall, and closed the door after her and bolted it. He lit a bedroom +candle for her with some attempt to atone for his late discourtesy, and +asked: + +"Would you like anything before you go upstairs?" + +"No, thank you." + +She took the candlestick from him with a shaking hand and turned towards +the stairs. + +"Good-night," he said. + +The emotion in his voice moved her to yet deeper distress. It was the +first time she had parted from him without the good-night kiss. She +looked back at him where he stood, muffled in his greatcoat, a big +ungainly figure, which nevertheless seemed shrunken, possibly on account +of the loss of that air of successful assurance which hitherto had +characterised the man. + +"Good-night," she answered softly. "I am so sorry that I have hurt +you." + +Then, carrying her candle, she went swiftly up the stairs. + +Neither Prudence nor Edward Morgan secured any sleep that night. While +Mr Morgan tossed restlessly on his bed, fretting and worrying over this +blow which she had dealt him, Prudence lay very still and wide-eyed in +the darkness, wondering dismally what the new day would bring forth, and +how she would face old Mrs Morgan's anger, and the pained displeasure +in Edward's eyes. + +It was obvious to Prudence when she descended on the following morning, +heavy-eyed and with nerves strung to high tension, that Mr Morgan had +already confided in his mother the fact that she wished to end her +engagement. The old lady was upset and deeply affronted. Her agitation +betrayed itself in the trembling of her hands as she poured out the +coffee from the big silver urn. Nothing was said on the subject +uppermost in their thoughts until the finish of the meal, but a sense of +something impending hung in the air, making ordinary conversation +impossible. When he had finished his breakfast Mr Morgan rose and went +out, closing the door behind him. Mrs Morgan followed his exit with +her short-sighted gaze; then she sat back in her chair and gave her +attention to Prudence. + +She did not speak immediately; she was busy collecting her ideas, trying +to subdue her bitter resentment against this girl who deliberately +planned to wreck her son's happiness. A betrayal of anger would, she +realised, only make the estrangement more complete. + +"I want to talk to you," she said presently, breaking the silence which +was becoming increasingly awkward. + +Prudence looked up, and sat crumbling the bread beside her plate +nervously, and waited. + +"Edward has told me what happened last night," Mrs Morgan added with +fresh signs of agitation in her voice. "He is very distressed and +worried. This means more to him than you realise. It is not as if he +were a young man, and could face a disappointment and get over it. You +cannot seriously intend to break off your engagement--now--when +everything is arranged? It would be monstrous." + +She paused, and looked with pathetic eagerness to Prudence for her +answer. The girl choked. She felt the tears rising to her eyes and +hastily winked them away. What could she say? What was there to say in +face of her determination not to marry a man with whom marriage seemed +to her now intolerable? It amazed her to think that ever she could have +contemplated such a step. + +"I don't know how to answer you," she faltered. "It's so hateful to +keep hurting people. I know I've hurt Edward. I know you are thinking +badly of me--you must be. And I can't alter it. I can't please you. I +ought never to have accepted Edward. I don't love him. How can I marry +some one I don't love?" + +The tears fell now unchecked; she made no attempt to staunch them. But +old Mrs Morgan took no heed of this display of emotion; no amount of +tears could atone for such heartless conduct. She set herself to the +task of overruling the girl's decision. + +"I agree with you that you ought not to have engaged yourself to my +son," she said; "but, since you are engaged to him and every one knows +of the engagement, it would be most dishonourable for you to end it now. +Your father will say the same. You cannot do it, Prudence." + +"But I must," Prudence insisted. + +"No." The old lady became more emphatic. "It is unthinkable. You +can't do it. I don't consider, myself, that you will make Edward a +suitable wife; but he still wishes it; your family wish it. You cannot +draw back." + +Prudence pushed back her chair and stood up. + +"I'll go home," she said. "I'll go to-day--now. I don't think that +Edward has a right to expect me to many him against my will. I'll go +home." She gripped the back of her chair hard, and met Mrs Morgan's +unfriendly eyes with no sign of yielding in her look. "I know you are +angry with me," she added. "They'll be angry at home. I can't help +that. I deserve it. But to do as you wish wouldn't help matters. It +would be another mistake. I couldn't make him happy." + +"You will never make any one happy," Mrs Morgan said, "because you are +utterly selfish." + +CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. + +Prudence was not allowed to return home that day as she wished to do. +Old Mrs Morgan insisted upon writing first to Mr Graynor to prepare +him for his daughter's unexpected return, and to explain the reason for +her travelling before the original date and alone. In the circumstances +it was impossible that Mr Morgan should accompany her. + +Prudence dreaded the sending of this letter. She feared as the result +of its dispatch that some member of her family would arrive to take her +home like a child who is in disgrace. She retired to her room and spent +the greater part of the day in tears till her face was disfigured and +her eyelids swollen with weeping, so that Mrs Henry, when she called +during the afternoon, could not fail to detect these signs of distress. +Old Mrs Morgan was too upset to receive any one; and Prudence +entertained the mystified visitor alone, and in response to repeated +probings, explained the situation to her in jerky incomplete sentences +which conveyed nothing very clearly, save the fact that she wished to +end her engagement and that the Morgans would not agree to this on +account of what people would say. + +Mrs Henry's primary emotion, when this point became clear, revealed +itself in a vindictive gratification in her mother-in-law's +discomfiture. Apart from that she kept an open mind on the subject. +She liked Prudence. She would have preferred that Edward should not +upset her own arrangements by taking to himself a wife, but, since he +was inclined that way, she thoroughly approved his choice, and had +become reconciled to the thought of his marriage. She scarcely knew +whether to feel relieved or disappointed at this unexpected turn of +affairs. But she was frankly amused. The picture of old Mrs Morgan, +amazed and angry, fussing in irreconcilable distress over what people +would say, filled her with indescribable satisfaction. + +"They can't make you marry against your will," she said reassuringly. + +Prudence was not so sanguine. Persistent opposition of the kind +enforced in her family bore one with the irresistible force of a flood +in the most unlikely directions. To brave this opposition from a +distance was a very different affair from facing it daily and being +crushed beneath its influence. She had had experience enough of this +sort in the past. + +"It wouldn't be so intolerable," she said, "if Edward and I could five +alone. I want a home of my own. I should hate to have my household +ordered according to Mrs Morgan's ideas of what a home should be. +Imagine not being mistress in one's own house!" + +"I can't imagine anything of the kind," Mrs Henry said, and became +animated with a new and brilliant inspiration. "Make your consent to +marrying him conditional on his keeping a separate establishment," she +suggested. "Turn the old woman out--or make him take another house. +That's how I should act in your place." + +The audacity of this proposal robbed it largely of its effect. Prudence +rejected it without consideration. + +"They would never agree to that," she said. + +"Then Edward has no right to hold you to your engagement. You didn't +undertake to marry his mother." + +Mrs Henry felt particularly pleased with her Solomon-like solution of +the difficulty. She urged Prudence to give it her attention. + +"You have the whole situation in your hands, if you like to be firm," +she said. + +It was a shabby card. Prudence felt, to hold in reserve for the winning +of the game. Nevertheless, if it was a shabby card, it was a very +strong one: it threw the responsibility of decision on Mr Morgan's +shoulders. + +"Don't let them bully you, you poor child!" Mrs Henry added, and +passed a friendly arm around Prudence's waist. "Be firm, and show some +spirit, and you'll win through." She took Prudence out motoring, to +change the current of her thoughts, as she expressed it. "It won't help +matters if you are ill on our hands," she said. + +William arrived at Morningside as a result of Mrs Morgan's letter, a +pompously irate and blustering William, whose anger roused Prudence to a +show of defiance, but otherwise left her unmoved. + +"This is a nice thing to have happened," he observed, his cold eyes +resting with unsympathetic criticism on her white face, with the eyes +ringed from sleeplessness and recent distress. "You have disgraced the +family. No Graynor, whatever his faults, has acted dishonourably +before. Your conduct is scandalous. Here have I been obliged to leave +my business and start off at a moment's notice on your account. You +show no consideration for any one." + +"You might have spared yourself the journey, so far as my pleasure is +concerned," Prudence retorted. + +He insisted upon her returning with him by the first available train, an +arrangement which suited Prudence, whose one desire was to get away from +Morningside under any condition. Edward Morgan's sense of injury, which +he made very manifest, and his mother's silent anger, were difficult to +face. + +She had not seen Edward alone since the night of the dance; but he +sought an interview with her before she left the house to which he had +brought her in the proud belief that she would one day live there with +him as his wife. He came to her in the drawing-room where she waited +dressed ready for departure, with an air of perplexed and hurt inquiry +in his look. He refused to believe in the unalterable quality of her +decision. The whole thing was utterly incomprehensible to him. + +"Don't move," he said gravely, as Prudence started up nervously at his +entrance with a hurried demand to know whether the motor and William +were ready. "I couldn't let you leave without a further effort to +arrive at some sort of an understanding. The motor will not be round +for a few minutes. There is plenty of time. Won't you sit down?" + +She reseated herself, and looked away from his reproachful eyes, +painfully conscious of the changing colour in her cheeks. It troubled +her to see him look so sad and stern. He drew a chair forward and sat +down near her. His proximity, the ordeal of remaining there alone with +him, was peculiarly distressing to her. + +"I am not going to accept your present decision as final," he said, +after a pause given to reflection. "You haven't allowed yourself +opportunity for thought. I regard this unaccountable change in your +feelings as the result of some emotional phase which will eventually +pass. No; don't interrupt me," for she had looked up as if about to +speak. "I would rather that you took time to think about this matter +first. I have a right to that much consideration at least. It is not +fair to me that you should rely upon your impulses in so grave an issue. +Treat me justly, Prudence. Go home and weigh the question carefully, +and then let me hear from you again. My love for you remains unaltered +in essence, though I confess to a feeling of disappointment at your want +of appreciation. Take time, my dear. Give yourself at least a month +for reflection. I have not released you from your engagement; I cannot +do that. But if at the end of the month you still feel you do not wish +to marry me, write to me frankly, and I promise you you will not find me +unreasonable." + +"Thank you," Prudence said with her face averted. "You are very kind." + +Mr Morgan, who was finding a pathetic satisfaction in the role of +sorrowful mentor, took her listless hand in his, and assumed a +friendlier tone. He was beginning to believe his own assertion that her +present mood was merely a phase that would pass and leave her in a +normal frame of mind once more. He pressed his point. + +"You haven't answered me," he said gently. "You will do as I ask?" + +"I'll think it over," she agreed. "And I'll write. But--I wish you +didn't care so much." + +Conversation hung after that. Mr Morgan had made his appeal; he had +nothing further to add, and Prudence found nothing to say. It came as a +relief to both when the door opened abruptly, and William thrust his +head inside and demanded how much longer his sister intended keeping him +waiting. She rose and offered Mr Morgan her hand. He pressed it +warmly, and followed her from the room, and saw her into the waiting +motor. He still wore an air of chastened sorrow, but there was a gleam +in his eyes suggestive of hope; and he turned away from watching the +departure of the motor and went into the house with a lessening of the +heavy gravity of his expression and a look of greater assurance than he +had worn since the rupture. He refused to accept defeat. When she left +his house Prudence had on her finger the engagement ring which he had +given her. She had offered to return this; but in answer he had taken +her hand and replaced it and told her to keep it where it was. It was +not until after she reached home that she remembered it and took it off +and locked it away from her sight. + +The return home was a miserable affair. Her conduct in breaking off her +engagement was viewed on all sides as a dishonourable act. No one had +any sympathy with the reasons she alleged for this amazing decision. +Mr Graynor refused with an obstinacy that baffled her to discuss the +subject. He would not hear of her breaking her word to his valued and +trusted friend. It seemed to him disgraceful that she should +contemplate such a step. To jilt a man like Edward Morgan appeared to +him an unpardonable offence. + +Prudence crept away early to bed and cried her heart out in the solitude +of her room. + +CHAPTER THIRTY. + +An intolerable fortnight went by. Prudence bore with the displeasure of +the family, which manifested itself in a gloomy reserve in her presence, +with such cheerfulness as she could command. The influence of Agatha +and brother William pervaded the household and fenced her about in a +withering isolation. She had ample opportunity for the reflection which +Mr Morgan had so earnestly entreated her to give to the matter of her +engagement; but this subject least engrossed her attention. The +alternative of marriage with Mr Morgan in order to escape from the +dreary home life was less attractive than it had seemed. It held out no +promise of freedom. Old Mrs Morgan's rule was as arbitrary as +Agatha's. There still remained to her the move in the game which Mrs +Henry had suggested so readily; but Prudence felt reluctant to win that +way. + +From Bobby's letters Prudence derived her sole source of comfort. These +came fairly frequently, and urged upon her the necessity for keeping her +end up. Bobby approved of the rupture which disturbed the peace of two +households, and promised his active support in the near future, and in +the present his very sincere sympathy. + +"You've done the right thing at last, old girl," he wrote. "It would +have been better had you done it before; but it's no use wailing about +that. Don't let them bully you into retracing your step." + +Advice that was easier to give than to follow, in view of the general +displeasure. There were moments when Prudence felt that if something +did not speedily relieve the tension she would be unable to hold out +against the combined pressure of her family's disapproval and her +father's sorrowful anger. The latter hit her hard. She had not known +what it was to be really estranged from him before. + +"I wish you would try to understand," she pleaded with him once. "I +can't bear it when you never speak. I want to talk to you about-- +things. I want to make you understand my point of view. You can't +really think it right I should marry a man I do not care for." + +"I do not think it right that you should jilt an honourable man like +Edward Morgan," he said. + +"But if I don't love him?" she insisted. "You married for love." + +"Yes," he answered. "And there was as great a difference between the +ages of your mother and me as between you and the man you have promised +to marry. But your mother was happy with me." + +"Because she loved you," Prudence replied. + +"Yes," he allowed, and shifted uneasily in his chair and shaded his eyes +with his hand. "I think your mother's sense of duty would have kept her +to her promise in any case," he added quietly. "There is a code of +honour. Prudence, which we, who would keep our own respect and the +respect of others, must uphold. In urging the plea for your own +happiness you are opposing a selfish consideration against the happiness +of a good and just man. You have to think of him as well as of +yourself--of his happiness and your honour. I beg you not to jilt him +in this heartless manner. It is not right, Prudence. I must continue +to set my face against it." + +That was the last time she attempted to plead her cause with him. He +was past being able to appreciate her point of view. The only member of +the family who sympathised with Prudence, and who in unobtrusive fashion +sought to show a kindly understanding and to invite her confidence, was +Matilda. Marriage had not lessened Matilda's love for romance, though +there was little that was romantic in her own life. Ernest was sternly +opposed to sentiment; and his wife, beautifully submissive to his +prejudices, restrained her sentimental yearning in his presence, and in +his absence fed her emotional mind on erotic literature and dreams. He +was absent from Wortheton at the time of Prudence's amazing return. The +expected living had fallen vacant, and he had gone in advance of his +wife to prepare the new home for her reception. That she might like a +voice in the furnishing and decoration of the dilapidated vicarage which +her money was to restore did not seem to have occurred to him. He felt +indeed quite generous and important while spending her money lavishly, +according to his own idea of what was needful and agreeable for their +mutual comfort. The enlargement and improvement of his study gave him +much pleasurable thought. + +Matilda, as well as Prudence, felt relieved that he was away. The +breaking of Prudence's engagement would have afforded him many +opportunities for making unfavourable comments on his sister-in-law's +character. Matilda on this subject held views opposed to the rest. The +engagement had always been a matter for wonderment to her. Her mind +strayed continually back to the days of Steele's visit, and harped with +reflective persistence on the more vivid events of that time. She +pictured his strong, good-looking face, and the admiration in his eyes +when they had rested upon Prudence. She recalled the night when he had +entered the garden and talked stealthily with her young sister under her +window. She felt puzzled to understand how, after knowing Philip +Steele, Prudence could have engaged herself to marry any one else. +Matilda would have lived solitary, wedded to the memory of romance, +rather than shut romance out of her life. + +"You should not many a man you don't love," she said once. "You are +young enough to wait." + +"I have waited two years," Prudence answered drearily. + +"Wait a little longer. You don't want to marry Edward Morgan?" + +"I don't want to; but it looks as if I should be driven to marry him +against my will." + +Matilda found nothing to say to that. She had never possessed any will +of her own as opposed to the family. + +The month for reflection drew to a close, and Prudence had arrived at no +settled resolve as to what she purposed doing; she could not determine +what to write to Mr Morgan. She had promised him that she would write, +but she found nothing to say. The relations between herself and her +family became more strained. William made unnecessary references to the +Graynor Honour at frequent intervals. The word of a Graynor, he +remarked, was regarded as equal to his bond--in the past; and left it to +be generally inferred that it remained for Prudence to break that +admirable record. + +Old Mr Graynor took little notice of her. He was not actively unkind; +but she had disappointed him keenly, and he allowed her to feel the +weight of his displeasure. + +Goaded beyond measure, her thoughts reverted at times to the dull +tranquillity of the Morningside establishment, and the relief to be +gained from Mrs Henry's bright companionship, the memory of which +brought a sense of comfort to her weary brain. If it were not for old +Mrs Morgan... + +She sat down one day to write to Mr Morgan. She took her engagement +ring from the locked drawer and packed it in its case and directed it to +him. All of which was entirely simple. But the writing of the letter +was a different matter. It was very difficult to set down on paper what +she wanted to say. Ultimately the letter was written but the finished +production did not please her; the sentences looked bald and brutal and +ungracious. It was one thing to resolve to refuse to marry a man unless +he sent his old mother out of the home, it was another and altogether +detestable matter to put that statement on to paper. She could not do +it. Either she must marry the man unconditionally, or end the +engagement finally. It was impossible to make any such stipulation. + +So the letter was never sent. Prudence eventually destroyed it; and +still in a state of desperate indecision, entered upon a further period +for reflection. + +The re-opening of the subject devolved upon Mr Morgan. After the lapse +of six weeks a letter arrived, reminding her of her promise to write to +him, urging his love upon her, and hoping that she had reconsidered her +decision. It was a restrained and kindly letter, with not one sentence +in the whole of it into which she could read a hint at reproach. Quite +at the finish he wrote: + +"My mother sends her love, and wishes me to say that, as possibly you +would be happier keeping house alone, she will find a home for herself +near ours." + +A flush came into Prudence's face while she read these words. She +smiled ruefully, and laid the letter aside, and sat quite still, looking +out at the sunlight with a shadow of doubt like a passing cloud +darkening the blue of her eyes. + +"That knocks down all my defences," she mused, and moved suddenly and +found her handkerchief and buried her face in it. "I'm a fool to cry," +she reflected. "It doesn't alter anything really... But I wish she +hadn't sent that message." + +Thus ended Prudence's fight for freedom. She gave in weakly, without +further struggle; her resolves borne down by the relentless opposition +of the family, by Mr Morgan's quite courteous persistence, and by his +mother's unexpected concession. She no longer had any substantial +reason to urge against the marriage. The reason which she had put +forward repeatedly, that she did not love the man she was being forced +to marry, was treated as frivolous and generally disregarded. There +appeared no way of escape. + +Marriage, which once had seemed to her to offer freedom from the dull +restrictions of her home life, was nothing more than a shuffling of the +same pack of cards. She would change her place in the game, that was +all; leave one control for another. Perhaps that was life--woman's +life, anyway. But she had dreamed once of fine things, big things, in a +world that was fair and lovely and tolerant--the land of promise of +every young imaginative mind. + +CHAPTER THIRTY ONE. + +Having yielded on the most important point. Prudence conceded every +other. She no longer seemed to possess any will, or, if the will were +there, she had no heart to express her wishes. The family arranged +everything without consulting her; and the marriage, which was hurried +forward to fit in as nearly as possible with the date previously fixed +upon, was the biggest and most important function of its kind that +Wortheton had ever seen. + +The young bride alone showed no interest in the proceedings, and wore +her white satin and orange wreath with a look of weary protest in her +pretty eyes, and an air of shrinking timidity which Mr Morgan +considered very beautiful. + +Bobby's disgust at the whole affair was openly manifest. It would have +been more seemly, he told her with scorn, had she married the curate. + +"There's no accounting for tastes," he said, with an odd lack of +sympathy in his manner. "Morgan is a refined edition of Uncle William. +When you are indulging in your hot water kidney cures and boiled mutton +and respectability, don't forget that you asked for these blessings." + +"Oh, Bobby!" she protested. + +"Well, I told you not to give in. You should have taken a firm stand." + +"When you have lived at home a little while you will discover how simple +that advice is to follow," she said, and left him to digest this remark +at his leisure. She felt too flattened to argue with him. + +But on the day of the actual ceremony Bobby proved helpful and +encouraging. He hovered about her watchfully, and was always at hand to +fend off the bores, as he expressed it. + +"It might be worse, old girl," he said. "When you are fed up with +things, send for me, and we'll manage some sort of a stunt together." + +There was no pretence between him and Prudence that the latter's +marriage was a subject for rejoicing: they were too intimately +acquainted with each other's thoughts to attempt a pose. + +"Lord! won't it be dull," he said, "without you." + +The Rev Ernest assisted in marrying his sister-in-law; and Matilda in +a dove-coloured dress, a little regretful, and still puzzled by the turn +of events, followed the service tearfully, and compared Mr Morgan's +matured thick-set figure with Steele's well-set-up, muscular +youthfulness, to the former's disadvantage, and tried to solace her +misgivings with the reflection that doubtless everything was ordered for +the best in this admirably regulated universe. + +Then the ring was placed on Prudence's finger; and the married couple +repaired to the vestry, where Prudence signed the register which +witnessed to the sacrifice of her girlhood and all her dreams of romance +and freedom and the great flight into the unknown, which was to have +revealed such wonderful possibilities of a golden life, complete and +satisfying, and bright with gratified desires. The shackles were +riveted and her wings clipped for all time. + +Marriage is one of two things, a realisation of life, or a compromise. +Prudence had effected a compromise, with her eyes opened wide to what +she had lost. + +"That's finished," Edward Morgan said in satisfied tones, and kissed his +wife heartily. + +Every one showed an eagerness to kiss the bride. Even William raised +her veil and laid a benedictory kiss upon her brow; but it was Bobby +alone who felt her lips respond to his in warm affection; to the rest +she remained a composed, unsmiling young woman, far too composed for a +bride, Matilda thought. She never shed a tear. Matilda had shed +several--emotional drops of pure happiness. She recalled her +sentimental mood of tremulous joy with agreeable satisfaction. Love +must express itself in such tender ways; it is never coldly and gravely +self-contained, as in Prudence's case. + +"I hope you will be very happy, dear," Matilda said mournfully. "It is +a blessed thing to be married." + +At which the bride's stony features relaxed into a quiet smile; she had +often heard Ernest make use of the same expression, though never in +relation to his connubial bliss. + +Old Mrs Morgan, and Mr and Mrs Henry attended the wedding; and Bobby +and Mrs Henry exerted themselves to make the affair go off brightly. +Mrs Henry was a sport, Bobby opined. He had an idea that under her +auspices Prudence might have quite a good time, the nightly K.B. and the +mother-in-law notwithstanding. + +Mrs Henry confessed to him her surprise at Prudence's sudden +capitulation. + +"I never supposed she would give in," she said. + +"It wasn't her fault entirely," Bobby returned. "The family made it so +beastly uncomfortable for her. Now you see us in bulk you ought to be +equal to grasping the situation. You see us at our amiable best; we +aren't often so agreeable. But even at our best we are a trifle heavy." + +"You are the lightest heavyweight I have ever encountered," she replied, +laughing. + +"Oh! I don't count. I'm a sort of changeling." He brought his face +suddenly close to hers. "I say," he said confidentially, "look after +Prue a bit, and help her to a spree occasionally. It's been dull enough +for her at home. She ought to have a fling now and again." + +Mrs Henry looked into his earnest eyes reflectively for a moment, and +smiled. + +"That will be all right," she said. "I've been a rebel always. We'll +contrive between us to make things hum. You shall come along some day +and see." + +"I can't understand a man wishing to marry a girl who has shown that she +isn't keen," he remarked. + +Mrs Henry betrayed amusement. + +"The average man's vanity prevents him from realising her lack of +eagerness," she returned cynically. + +"He attributes her reluctance to shyness or ignorance or any other +incomprehensible feminine quality, seldom to non-appreciation of +himself. It is just as well, perhaps; it makes things pleasanter. But +don't you think at this stage it would be advisable to admit the +keenness?" + +"Well, perhaps," he allowed, and smiled in response to the laugh in her +eyes. "Life is all a game of make-believe, after all. Look round, and +behold! Every one affecting affability, and trying to appear as though +this were a joyful occasion. There is as much real joy in a funeral. +Uncle William is genuinely pleased anyhow. He has always feared that +Prue would get Benjamin's share of the spoil. There is more than a +touch of the miser in the Graynor blood." + +William meanwhile was conversing amiably with the bride, who, wearied +with congratulations, had drawn a little apart from the press of guests, +and stood in the opening of the French window where the sunlight fell on +the sheen of white satin and brightened the gold of her hair. From +where she stood she could survey the wallflowers growing in the borders +near the path. The sight of them brought back vividly the memory of the +night when they had suffered sadly from the tread of despoiling feet. +She answered William absently. + +"I am proud of you," he said unexpectedly, and placed a heavy hand upon +her arm. "The Graynor honour is safe in your keeping." + +She looked at him curiously. William was fond of talking of the Graynor +honour as though it were a quality peculiarly and finely personal. She +wondered what he had ever done to make it so manifestly his. He spoke +as a man might speak, but never does, who spends his life in defence of +this particular virtue. + +"I've renounced the Graynor," she replied with a little twist of her +lips. "I'm not keeping anything appertaining to the name. As for +honour, we guard it best, perhaps, when we are least concerned about +it--it's a natural instinct, not an hereditary quality." + +"It has always been an attribute of our family," he observed pompously. + +"Like the chimneys," she remarked--"which spoil the landscape for other +people." + +She felt irritated, irritated with his sententiousness, his inflated +pride. She wished he would not thrust his unwanted company upon her. +His condescending air of being kind and brotherly exasperated her. He +had rushed her into this marriage, he and Agatha; and she was resentful +and bitter on this account. It was a matter of immense regret to her at +that moment that she had yielded to the force of circumstances and +become the reluctant bride of a man who was altogether too good to be +treated in this fashion. Their married life could never be entirely +happy: he would demand of her what she could never give. + +The consciousness of his claim upon her galled already. When she saw +him coming towards her, where she stood with William in the aperture of +the window, advancing heavily with his smiling gaze upon her white-clad +figure, she experienced a difficulty in meeting his eyes. Something +akin to fear gripped her heart and held her silent, white-lipped and +unsmiling, as he approached. She felt a wild desire to escape--out +through the open window, beyond the walls into the road--to run away +into the wide open country and hide. + +He little guessed at the storm that shook that quiet figure which +remained so still and unresponsive when he halted beside it, with some +jesting remark about her having slipped away from him. She gathered +from his words that she had done an unprecedented thing in deserting his +side. That was her place--at his side--always. + +He conducted her to the dining-room, where a huge wedding cake adorned +the centre of the long table, a mountain of ornamental white sugar and +silver decorations, which it was required she should cut, while her +husband stood by, glad and proud, wishful to be helpful, enjoying these +absurd customs, and listening to and responding to the toasts with +heartfelt appreciation. + +Would all this insincere merrymaking never end? + +Old Mr Graynor put out a hand and felt for hers under the tablecloth, +and pressed her fingers tenderly. His action, in its simple appeal, +melted the ice that was closing about Prudence's heart. She turned to +him swiftly, silently, and smiled into his understanding eyes with eyes +as dim as his. The new antagonism broke down; he was again the one +human being whom she greatly loved. And he was feeling every whit as +lonely and sad at heart as herself. How stupid and unnecessary it all +seemed, and yet how inevitable! + +There followed the change into her travelling-dress, and the bustle of +departure amid hurried farewells; and then Prudence entered the motor-- +the fine new car which Edward had bought for her, and in which they +would make the journey to London, _en route_ for the Continent, where +the honeymoon was to be spent. + +He had thought of everything that would conduce to her pleasure and +comfort; and had sacrificed many an old-fashioned prejudice in planning +a honeymoon that would appeal to her more youthful ideas of enjoyment. +He did not care about travelling himself, and he hated foreign places +and people. But he enjoyed giving her pleasure. + +When the car turned out of the gates and whirled down the white road, he +took her in his arms and crushed her to him and rained ardent kisses on +her unresponsive lips. + +"My darling!" he murmured. "My own darling! How good it is to be alone +with you at last!" + +Thus Prudence left her girlhood behind her and started upon her married +life. + +CHAPTER THIRTY TWO. + +One sorry satisfaction attends on circumstance which admit no prospect +of great happiness or pleasurable development, disappointment and +disillusion are alike avoided. During five dull years of married life +Prudence passed from one stage to another of repugnance, remorse, and +hostility, till she reached the final stage of apathetic resignation to +the conditions of her life. + +The years, and Prudence's lack of any response, had considerably altered +Edward Morgan's feelings towards her. The ardour of his passion had +cooled, and a polite indifference mainly characterised his mental +attitude in regard to his girl-wife. He remained proud of her, proud of +her youth and of her beauty; but they were in no sense companions, or +even faintly interested in each other's concerns. They went their +separate ways within the first two years of the ill-assorted union. +During the first year they quarrelled frequently. Mr Morgan, +unaccustomed to opposition, found himself so constantly opposed to his +young wife in small things that his temper suffered considerably. Their +first serious difference was in the matter of open windows. Mr Morgan +was unaccustomed to sleeping with his window open to the treacherous +ills of the night air; Prudence was unaccustomed to sleep with them +closed. She could not, she averred, sleep at all in an insufficiently +ventilated room; she couldn't breathe without air. It transpired that +Mr Morgan's respiratory organs worked better in a confined atmosphere. +He ought to have belonged to the toad, or other hybernating species, +Prudence reflected, but forbore to frame her reflections in speech. + +They spent some hours one cold night in the unprofitable exercise of +jumping in and out of bed, alternately opening and shutting the window; +until Prudence, recognising the absence of dignity in these proceedings, +feigned slumber; and awoke in the morning with a headache, and the fixed +resolve to have a separate sleeping apartment. + +Quarrels were frequent after that decision, which she adhered to firmly; +until finally they arrived at that state of mutual indifference to which +most unsuitably married people attain in time, when they are not +sufficiently spirited to part, or are deterred by other considerations +from taking this step. + +No children came to bless the union. The little hands which might have +drawn them together, the little feet which alone could have bridged the +distances, were destined never to gladden their hearts. It was a great +grief to Prudence that she had no child. Had a little child been born +to her it would have eased her heart hunger and filled her lonely life +and satisfied her. It might possibly have reconciled her to her +marriage. The mother instinct was strong in her. She desired a child +with passionate intensity, and she was denied this greatest wish of her +life. She resented this. It widened the gulf between herself and her +husband, and fed her discontent from the perennial springs of regret +which occasionally submerge the barren woman's soul in bitter waters. + +She wished to adopt a child; but Edward Morgan objected to the +introduction into his quiet home of a child who was not his; and she let +the matter drop. It would have caused dissension had she persisted. +Edward was seconded in his objection by old Mrs Morgan, who continued +to live with them, her promise of a separate establishment having ended +in a temporary absence from Morningside, to which she returned on a +visit to her daughter-in-law, which prolonged itself indefinitely until +her presence in the home was tacitly accepted as a matter of course. +Had she adopted a child, there would have been, Prudence foresaw, +considerable disagreement in regard to its upbringing; she and the +Morgans held such opposite views on subjects of hygiene and education +and general discipline. + +Mrs Henry was Prudence's sole refuge from unutterable boredom. The +worldly-minded little woman proved a staunch ally. But her influence +did not tend towards reconciling Prudence to her lot. Mrs Henry +cordially detested her husband's people, and enjoyed nothing better than +inciting her sister-in-law to rebellion. + +"They would flatten you out, if you allowed them to," she declared, +"until you felt like nothing in the world so much as a tired worm. They +tried it on with me." + +Prudence fell into the habit of seeking Mrs Henry's society whenever +life at home proved more than usually trying; and Mrs Henry, whose +house enjoyed the reputation of being a sort of free hotel, encouraged +her visits, recognising in her pretty sister-in-law's presence an +additional attraction to her successful parties. + +The intimacy between the two women was a source of continual annoyance +to Mrs Morgan; but Edward, who liked his brother's wife and trusted his +own wife implicitly, saw no reason for objecting to the friendship. +Possibly he was wise enough to recognise that any objection to this +harmless pleasure would be futile. The affair of the windows had left a +lasting impression on his mind. + +The beginning of the sixth year of her married life, when Prudence, at +the age of twenty-five, outwardly very little altered since the day she +married, had become resigned, if not reconciled, to a life in which she +foresaw no possibility of change, witnessed the outbreak of war--the war +which sprung so suddenly upon the world, and which was destined to +change so many lives. Lives which were fitted into grooves so deeply +that it seemed they had rusted there and could never be dislodged, were +flung out of their ruts like lava spit from the mouth of a volcano by +this greatest upheaval which the world had known. To Morgan Bros, as to +Mr Graynor, the great disaster brought added prosperity. The works +were engaged in the manufacture of khaki, which Bobby, afire with +enthusiasm, and eager for release from a life that was irksome and +uninspiring, donned speedily, to William's manifest satisfaction, and +his grandfather's pride and grief. + +That was the beginning of the changes in Prudence's life. Apart from +her anxiety on Bobby's account, and the natural gravity which the +appalling immensity of the disaster occasioned, Prudence in the early +days witnessed only the lighter side of war. Mrs Henry, destined +before those tragic five years ran their terrible course to lose both +her young sons, worked hard in the early days--indeed, she worked +unflaggingly to the end, and bravely strove to hide her sorrow from the +world--to give the men she knew, and many who were strangers to her +until the wearing of the uniform made them participators in her +hospitality, the best of times while they remained in England. Dances +and entertainments of every description were organised on a princely +scale for the benefit of the men who were out to defend the honour of +the Empire. + +Old Mrs Morgan looked upon all this festivity disapprovingly, and +remonstrated with her, urging the unseemliness of feting in such +frivolous fashion men who were about to face death, and many of whom +would be called inevitably before long to meet their God. But Mrs +Henry treated these remonstrances with smiling indifference. + +"The heroes of Waterloo left a ball-room to defeat their enemies," she +argued. "I expect the poor dears fought better and died happier by +reason of those few bright hours. The boys like being amused, and they +love flirting with the girls. Whatever does it matter? If one has to +die one might as well have a good time first. It is the moment, after +all, which counts. We have only the present to think for; there may be +no to-morrow." + +Which view of things did not tend to soothe her mother-in-law, who had +arrived at an age which avoids reflecting on the uncertainty of the +future. + +"Rose has no spiritual outlook," she observed one evening, over the +nightly glass of hot water which she sipped with an enjoyment a toper +might evince while imbibing his grog. "Her attitude towards the +Hereafter is frankly pagan. She will perhaps be brought some day +through suffering to recognise the vanity of this world, and the +importance of the Future Life. No one can escape responsibility for his +acts." + +"Quite possibly Rose's record will be finer than the records of many +people who lead seemingly exemplary lives," returned Prudence, to whom +her mother-in-law's narrow views were particularly irritating. "`How +strange it will be,' as Lewis Hind says, `if, when we awake from the +dream of death, we find that we are judged only by the good we have +done.' That would cause a considerable readjustment of the balance." + +"People who lead good lives do good by example," Mrs Morgan insisted; +"those who spend their days in a feverish round of pleasure exert an +evil influence." + +"The warm impulses which make for kindly human acts and brighten life +for others have for me greater virtue than any prayer," came the quick +retort, which scandalised Edward Morgan as well as his mother, and +provoked him into joining in the discussion. + +"I don't like to hear any disparagement of prayer," he said quietly. +"Your training in a pious home should have taught you at least respect +for such things. I say nothing against pleasure, except where it +clashes with duty. In the lives of upright people duty ranks above +everything." + +"I've heard so much about the paramount importance of duty that I am a +little weary of it. It seems good to turn instead to the more genial +side of human nature. I think Rose's practical idea of a God-speed to +the men by sending them off smiling is just splendid. They all kissed +her in sheer gratitude when they left her house the other night." + +"I hope," Edward Morgan said stiffly, "that you don't allow them to take +those liberties with you?" + +Prudence laughed suddenly. + +"I'd just love it, if they did," she said. "But I am too near their own +age for them to attempt it. I've, promised to write to quite a number +of them though. That includes parcels. They will all be glad of gifts +from home. They are so young and jolly and full of life--just like +Bobby." + +Her eyes were a little wistful. She stood up, a graceful girlish figure +in blue velvet, with the light falling softly on the gold of her hair. +Edward Morgan's gaze followed her movements, as she walked to the +fireplace and stood leaning with her arm on the mantelshelf, looking +down on the hearth. This free and frequent mixing with young life of +the male sex disturbed him. He was jealous. It seemed to him that this +new stream of sturdy youthful masculinity flowed between them, and set +them still further apart. If his love for Prudence had diminished, his +sense of proprietorship had not abated in the least. His pride of +ownership was in arms against this incursion of new interests, new +friendships, in which he had no share. + +"Rose is giving another dance to-morrow night, isn't she?" he said. "I +think I'll go with you and look on for a bit." + +She lifted her head and glanced towards him, surprised, and not +particularly overwhelmed with gladness at the prospect of his company. +Her reception of his proposal was not exactly flattering. + +"You! You will be--bored. It's just a romp." + +"Henry will be there, I suppose?" + +"Oh, Henry! He likes that sort of thing. He romps too." + +"Henry was always a fool," Mrs Morgan put in acidly. "He would not +have married Rose if he had possessed ordinary common sense. It will be +as well for you to go, Edward; it may lend a little dignity to the +occasion." + +Prudence laughed. + +"Oh! there's plenty of dignity--of a joyous nature," she said. "We +don't rag." + +She crossed to old Mrs Morgan's side and laid a hand on the back of her +chair, feeling remorseful, as she so often felt when she had been +provoked into a show of ungraciousness. + +"You come too," she said softly,--"just for an hour, and look on. You'd +love it; and they would love to see you there. It's you, and others +like you, that every mother's son of them is out to fight for. Come and +show them you appreciate their sacrifice." + +"I can better show my appreciation," Mrs Morgan answered, "by praying +for them on my knees every night and morning of my life." She handed +her empty tumbler to her daughter-in-law, and stood up. "It is time I +went to bed," she said. "I find these talks very upsetting." + +"I'm sorry," Prudence said, and suffered the distant good-night kiss, +which was the customary parting between them, regardless of any feeling +of antagonism that lay behind the caress. + +CHAPTER THIRTY THREE. + +Having announced his intention of accompanying his wife to the dance +which Mrs Henry was giving, Edward Morgan, despite a growing +disinclination for spending an evening in this way, adhered to his +purpose in much the same spirit in which a man will keep an appointment +he has made with his dentist, not compulsorily, nor because he wants to, +but because he has no definite reason to urge against keeping the +engagement. + +It was a matter of indifference to Prudence whether he went or not. His +presence would not add to the general hilarity; and he would probably +want her to leave early; apart from that, it would be good for him to +look on at the harmless fun with which youth took its fill of enjoyment +in the presence of tragedy. There was something fine and inspiriting in +the gay manner in which these young people enjoyed themselves with the +dark cloud of war overshadowing their lives. + +Prudence's thoughts dwelt upon these things as she entered Mrs Henry's +house with her husband, and left him at the foot of the stairs and went +up to take off her wrap. They were everywhere, these khaki-clad +figures; the sound of their voices, of their gay laughter, filled the +rooms and passages. She talked to them, when she descended, and met +their admiring glances with the quiet self-possession which +characterised her always, talked easily and pleasantly with men whom she +had never met before, to whom she had not been introduced. The uniform +was an introduction; and she was there to help them to have a good time. +Mrs Henry demanded that of her. But this lapse from the conventions +struck Edward Morgan unfavourably. He perceived disrespect in the eager +push of these unknown young men to secure a dance with his wife. And +she gave her dances readily to any one who solicited the favour, a sweet +and gracious-looking figure in a dress of white and gold, with a wreath +of gold leaves in her hair. + +"Don't tell me your name," he heard one laughing voice exclaim, as its +owner scribbled something on his card. "I've written it down as Queen +of Hearts. That's what you are--to me for to-night. I want to think of +you as just that." + +Mr Morgan, restraining a desire to interfere, turned abruptly and moved +away. He did not at all approve of this sort of thing. The licence +permitted by the times struck him as very objectionable. He took up a +position near the door, where he could command a view of the dancing and +be out of the way. He did not like the modern dances; they were +awkward, and lacked the dignity of the dances familiar to his youth. + +"Come and open the ball with me," Mrs Henry said graciously, pausing +beside him while the band played the opening bars of a two-step. + +"I'm sorry," he said stiffly; "but these rag-time airs are unfamiliar to +me." + +"We can waltz to this," she said good-naturedly. "You waltz divinely. +Come on, old dear!" + +She put her hand on his arm, and he found himself to his amazement +dancing with his sister-in-law and enjoying it. He had not danced for +years, not since the night when he danced in that same room with his +fiancee, who, at the finish of the evening, had asked him to release her +from her engagement. The memory of that humiliating experience was with +him when, at the finish of the dance, he found his way back to the quiet +corner near the doorway, from whence he watched Prudence come and go +with her different partners, always animated and gay and tireless in her +enjoyment. What, he wondered, would his life have been like, and hers, +had he not turned a deaf ear to her request? + +He hated to see her enjoying herself thus independently of him; and he +was powerless to interfere. She would have accused him justly of +jealousy of her youth. He was jealous of her youth; he was still more +jealous of the youth of the men who surrounded her. + +A late arrival, entering unobtrusively while the dancing was in full +swing, seeing Mr Morgan standing disconsolately in the doorway, came to +a halt beside him, and noting the heavy boredom of his look, was moved +to address him, though he had no particular liking for the man he +accosted, and was not sure how his advances would be received. + +"Something of a crush inside, sir," he observed. "There doesn't appear +to be any room for me." + +Mr Morgan turned his head and surveyed the speaker. A light of +surprised recognition flashed into his sombre eyes, and, after a slight +show of hesitation, he held out his hand. + +"Steele!" he exclaimed. "The last man I expected to see. Where do you +spring from?" + +Steele laughed quietly. + +"The war brought me back," he said. "I arrived two days ago, and of +course came home. Mrs Henry met me yesterday outside the bank--and so +I'm here. She told me she was short of men. The shortage isn't +apparent." He stared into the densely packed room and smiled. "One +can't imagine Mrs Henry short of anything. It looks ripping." + +"Beastly crush!" Edward Morgan muttered. "I hate this sort of thing." + +The smile in the young man's eyes deepened, but the rest of his face was +grave. He was wondering why Mr Morgan put himself to the inconvenience +of attending an entertainment against his inclination. + +"It doesn't look as though my chance of securing partners was rosy," he +remarked. "I'm horribly late." + +He had not made any great effort to get there earlier. He had felt no +particular interest in the dance to which he had been so urgently and +unceremoniously bidden. But he deplored his lateness sincerely when, as +the music slowed down before finally ceasing, he caught an amazingly +unexpected vision of soft white and gold, with cheeks flushed like a +wild rose, and with wide blue eyes opened to their fullest as they +encountered his eager gaze. Prudence's eyes looked into his; and the +lights and the music and the crowd melted magically away. She was back +in the past, with the scent of _gloire de Dijon_ roses filling the air, +and one voice only breaking across immeasurable distance, and falling on +her ears like a note, lost and now recalled, the dear familiar sound of +a voice to which her heart responded and which flooded the universe with +the music of the spring. + +Whether Prudence broke away from her legitimate partner, or whether it +was Steele who effected the change, she never afterwards remembered. +She was conscious at the moment only of the eager welcome in his eyes, +the surprised satisfaction of his voice speaking her name, the glad +assurance with which he took her hand and placed it on his arm and +steered her with dexterous swiftness through the crowd about the +doorway, leaving Mr Morgan staring after them in stupefied amazement, +and her late partner frowning with annoyance at the slight which bereft +him of the most sought after partner of the evening. + +It all happened so quickly. Before she had recovered fully from the +first surprise of the encounter, she found herself alone with Steele in +a little room off the hall, that was all in confusion with an overflow +of furniture from the rooms which had been cleared. He drew her inside +and closed the door and stood looking down at her with a laugh in his +grey eyes. + +CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. + +"What luck!" he ejaculated. "Whoever would have thought of finding you +here? This saves me a journey." + +"I thought you were abroad," she said, her face irradiating happiness. +"It's just a dream, I can't believe you are real." + +He stooped over her, and laid his hands on her shoulders and held her, +looking into her upturned face. "I thought myself at first _you_ were a +dream," he said--"a vision which the longing in my heart had conjured +up. And then your voice--the touch of your hand..." He bent lower and +kissed her lips. "That is no dream," he murmured, and drew back, +smiling at her. "How good it is to be with you again! All the way home +on the ship I've had you in my thoughts. For that matter, I've had you +in my thoughts right along ever since I went away. I came home, I +think, just to see you." + +"I thought you had forgotten," she said, and turned aside her face to +hide the regret in her eyes. "I waited to hear from you. I waited, and +waited. And then--I thought surely you must have forgotten." + +"You might have known I couldn't forget," he said. "You told me not to +write. I did write several times, but I didn't send the letters for +fear they might get you into trouble at home. But all that doesn't +count now. I've come back." + +There was a ring of triumph in his voice, a joyous inflection that +seemed not only to invite, but to confidently expect, a sympathetic +response. Prudence, who in the first flush of her gladness at being +with him again, had forgotten everything else for the moment, gave +herself up to the pleasure of this unexpected encounter: her marriage, +everything outside the immediate present, every one save themselves, was +blotted out like patterns on the sand which the incoming tide +obliterates. She was as a person whose mind swings abruptly backward, +with every event which has befallen in the interval wiped from her +memory for the time. + +"You've come back!" she repeated, and smiled happily. "I'm so glad. +Why did you go abroad?" + +"Because there didn't seem much chance of getting on here," he replied. +"I couldn't afford to waste the years. You see, I wanted to make a +home. Well, I've done that." + +"Oh! but that's splendid!" she cried, her eyes shining with excitement. +"You've got on quickly." + +He laughed with her, and seated himself on the arm of her chair and laid +a hand upon one of hers. + +"I've been lucky," he said. + +He lifted his hand to her neck and slipped his arm around her shoulders. +It did not seem to occur to him that she might resent or feel surprised +at this familiarity. They were in love with one another; he took that +for granted; he was so certain about it that it did not appear necessary +even to raise that point. + +"So now, you see," he added, "I can afford to marry." + +She looked at him with a quick darkening of her blue eyes, a sudden +gravity chasing the smiling happiness from her face. She knew quite +well whom he wished to marry. And she loved him. She had no doubt +about that at all. She loved the feel of his nearness, the clasp of his +arm about her: the touch of his lips had caused her a thrill of +happiness, deeper and sweeter than any emotion she had felt or imagined. +He wanted her; she wanted him; and she was not free to go to him. + +"Yes," she said, with, to him, unaccountable nervousness. "Yes. That's +wonderful. It's great news. Tell me more--something about your life +out there. Where was it you went? South Africa! Funny! I didn't even +know where you were. You'll go back, I suppose, after the war?" + +"Yes, I'll go back. I don't think I'd care to live in England again. +It's jolly out there--always summer. You'd like it. Say you'll like +it--the jolly warmth and the brightness. The scenery knocks spots out +of Wortheton. Do you remember that day in the woods, Prudence?--and the +primroses we gathered and threw away? I've often thought of that day, +when I've been lonely and wanting you, and comparing the blue of your +eyes with the blue of the African sky. Dear, waking and dreaming, I +have pictured you continually--leaning out of a window with the roses +beneath the sill." + +He bent lower over her and clasped her closely, smiling at the +reluctance, which he realised, and attributed to shyness; it was not +because she did not love him that she shrank from his embrace. + +"Little girl," he said, "dear little girl, I didn't come over only to +fight for the old country, I came for the purpose of fetching you and +taking you out with me, if I am spared. You'll go with me, Prudence--as +my wife? You know how I love you." + +"Oh!" she said. And suddenly she was clinging to him sobbing, with her +face hidden against his sleeve. "I can't. I can't." + +He was surprised, but manifestly unconvinced. He supposed it was family +opposition she feared, and he set himself to the business of sweeping +this difficulty aside. + +"We're up against a lot, of course," he said, and smoothed her hair with +his ungloved hand. "Who cares? If I go back to Africa I'm going to +take you with me, if all the blooming family rolls up to prevent me. +You trust me? You love me, Prudence dear?" + +Prudence lifted her head, and sat back, looking at him with drenched, +dismayed blue eyes. The realisation that she must tell him of her +marriage, that she ought to have told him sooner, came to her with +startling abruptness. A distressful certainty that she was about to +give pain to this man whom she loved better than any one in all the +world gripped her tormentingly. She felt ashamed at the confession +which she must make. Horror of her marriage seized her. She wanted to +hide her eyes from the tenderness in his. + +"You don't understand," she said, and clenched her hands on the chair +arm, her face strained and weary and her eyes full of a humiliated +appeal. "It's not the family. Their attitude wouldn't matter. If I +had only known! I thought you had forgotten, and I was so unhappy at +home." Her head drooped suddenly; she hid her eyes from his gaze. "I +can't tell you," she faltered. "I can't tell you." + +He seized her hands almost roughly and held them in a grip which hurt. +His face, set and stern and paler than her own, seemed suddenly to have +aged. His voice was hoarse. + +"You aren't going to tell me that you are married?" he said. "For God's +sake, don't tell me that!" + +Prudence did not answer, did not raise her head; she dared not meet his +eyes. He loosened her hands abruptly and stood up. + +"Some one's got before me," he said in odd constrained tones. "Is that +it?" + +He turned deliberately away, and remained rigid and outwardly composed, +staring at a hideous old print on the wall, without consciously seeing +what he looked at. Prudence stood up also, and approached him, a +white-robed quiet figure, in the stillness of the dimly-lit room. She +put one hand to her throat and nervously fingered the pearls which +Edward Morgan had given her. + +"Yes, I'm married," she said, "to Mr Morgan." + +"That man!" He turned on her angrily. "He's old enough to be your +father." + +"My mother married a man much older than herself," she answered quietly. +"They were very happy." + +He emitted a short hard laugh. + +"So that's the end of my hopes," he said. "Fool that I was! I thought +you cared for me." + +She moved nearer to him, and something of her forced control left her in +that moment of intense emotion. She laid a hand swiftly on his arm; and +he read the despair and the longing in her saddened eyes. + +"You know I cared," she said. "You know I care still. I didn't +understand. I thought you had forgotten. I was not sure how much you +really meant. You went away; and life was very difficult. I had to get +away from it all--I had to. You had gone. I believed that I should +never see you again. If I'd known you remembered, I would have borne +with things; I would have waited all my life, if necessary, until you +came back to me. And now you've come--and it's too late. It's too +late." + +He looked down at her long and steadily, with a hint of something in his +eyes which she did not understand, which she instinctively feared. She +put a hand before her eyes to shut out that look in his; and he seized +the hand and dragged it aside and compelled her to meet his gaze. + +"Look here," he said quickly. "We've got to meet and talk this matter +out. We can't talk here. They'll miss you presently, and search for +you." + +They had missed her already. Mr Morgan was even then on his way to +discover their retreat. He approached the door while Steele spoke. +Steele continued speaking rapidly and with vehement insistence. + +"It's not going to end like this, you know. It can't. Now that I know +you love me, I'm not reckoning anything else. Nothing else counts. +I'll win you, if I have to break every law under the sun. You are mine. +I'll have you, whoever stands in my way. Yours is no better than a +forced marriage. You belong to me. You belonged to me first. I went +abroad to make a home for you. I've done that. Now I've come back to +fight for you--in a double sense. If I come through this war, you go +back with me. I won't go without you. Think it over. I'll see you +somehow, and learn your decision later. We'll bolt. Don't be +frightened. It's a bit of a muddle, but it will all come right." + +At which moment the door opened, and Mr Morgan, ruffled and large and +important, with an air of refusing to see what was altogether painfully +obvious, advanced with an exaggeration of dignity and offered Prudence +his arm. + +"Your partner is looking for you," he said. "You have overstayed the +interval." + +Prudence placed her hand on his sleeve, and, with her face averted from +Steele, walked silently out of the room. + +CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE. + +The Edward Morgans left the dance early, at whose suggestion Prudence +never remembered. She was quite willing to go home. The misery of +meeting again Philip Steele after the lapse of years, of discovering +that she loved him--that he loved her, had remained true to her memory +always, was more than she could bear. The image of Steele filled her +mind and so dominated her thoughts that she could not fix her attention +on anything else. + +She did not see him again. He left quietly soon after Edward Morgan led +his wife away--disappearing as he had come, unobtrusively, without +meeting his hostess, feeling unequal to facing her, and fearful of +risking a further encounter with the girl whose memory he had cherished +faithfully since the night he had stood under her window and caught a +rose which she dropped down to him for a token at parting. The rose was +in his possession still, and it was no more faded with the years, he +reflected with bitterness, than his memory was in her fickle affections. + +He felt angry with her, and in his anger he judged her harshly. He had +thought of her so much, had imagined her pleasure at their meeting, had +taken for granted that she would wait for him, confident of his return +and of his love. And he came back to find her married--gone from her +old place at the window, the setting in which he had pictured her during +those five lonely years of work. He had sworn to take her back with +him, sworn to have her in defiance of every law. He recalled the boast +with a smile of grim irony. There was a suggestion of melodrama about +it which struck him now as absurd. What, he wondered, had she thought +of the boast--of him? She had remained so still and silent, with her +half-averted face and an air of drooping sadness in her quiet pose. She +loved him. In spite of his bitter resentment at her marriage, at her +want of faith, deep down in his inner consciousness there remained the +calm assurance that her heart was his, would remain his, no matter what +the years brought forth. + +The Morgans exchanged scarcely a word during the drive home. But when +they reached the house Mr Morgan followed his wife into the +drawing-room with the air of a man who intends having things out. It +was not the time for explanations. He would have displayed greater +wisdom had he deferred the discussion to a more fitting occasion. +Prudence's nerves were all jarred. She had reached a stage of misery +which rendered her desperate, and her husband's manner, conveying his +sense of outraged pride and conscious authority, provoked her to a show +of bitterness, which in calmer moments she deplored. + +"That's the finish of all this dancing and merrymaking," he said rudely, +and poured himself out a glass of water, which old Mrs Morgan's thought +for their comfort had provided in chill readiness on a side table. "I +have always felt that this frivolity was out of keeping with the +seriousness of the times. Perhaps you will give me some explanation of +your extraordinary behaviour. What is Steele to you? I saw there was +something between you when you met. It was not difficult to see. Your +manner attracted general attention. I won't have my wife make herself +conspicuous with any man. Steele!" + +He voiced the name with an oath, and banged down his glass so that the +water spilled over on the polished table. Prudence watched him stonily, +but without surprise, while he sopped up the water with his +handkerchief. It was so characteristic of him to be careful in small +matters even in a moment of great emotional strain. + +"I am tired," she said, making the only appeal that presented itself to +her mind whereby to avoid the discussion. "I would rather not talk +about these things now." + +"Tired!" he ejaculated angrily. "You won't have to complain of that in +future. I will see that you take more rest. And you _must_ talk of +these things. I have every right to insist upon an explanation." + +"Very well," she said, in quiet tones that should have warned him to +desist. "But I think you are unwise. Mr Steele, when he met me +to-night, had no idea that I was married; and, in the surprise of seeing +him again, I suppose I betrayed my gladness. I did not mean to do that. +It was all so unexpected." + +"But what is he to you?" Edward Morgan demanded. "Good God! can't you +answer a plain question? What has there been between you and Steele in +the past?" + +Prudence turned away from him to conceal the quivering of her lips, but +her voice was steady when she answered despite the wild beating of her +heart. + +"I loved him," she said simply, "and he loved me. There was that +between us. But he went away, and I thought--he had forgotten." + +A long silence fell between them, a heavy silence. In all his life +Edward Morgan had never received such a blow to his pride as this. She +had dealt him a blow before when she sought to break their engagement; +but that was trifling as compared with this--this brazen confession of +love for another man. She had never loved him--her husband. She had +been in love with another man all these years. + +"And yet you married me!" he said in a hard voice, snapping the silence +abruptly. + +Had she not been goaded past endurance, Prudence, would not have said +what she did say; she was ashamed of it later. But his manner and his +clumsy insistence irritated her into retorting. + +"At least I tried to evade doing you that injury," she said. + +His face became purple with anger. Nothing she could have planned to +say could have enraged him more than that cutting reminder at such a +time of her reluctance to become his wife. + +"You did," he shouted, and smote the table beside which he stood so +violently that the glasses on it jingled and the water was spilled +again. This time he allowed it to remain; he appeared not to see it in +his outburst of noisy passion. "But you weren't honest with me even +then. You concealed this thing from me deliberately. You deceived me. +I believed you were a simple-hearted girl whose love I could win with +kindness. And I was kind to you. I have tried to be kind always-- +though God knows! I received small return. Do you suppose I would have +married you had you told me that you loved another man? I could feel +some respect for you had you persisted in your refusal; I feel none for +you now. It was an evil day for me when you married me." + +"It was the one big mistake of my life," she answered, and turned and +faced him fully, with blue eyes aflame with anger, her head lifted +proudly, almost aggressively, her face expressing cold dislike. She had +never loved Edward Morgan, but she had not until then actively disliked +him. His blustering anger, and his ill-considered taunts repelled her. +"If you care to have a separation I am quite agreeable. I think we +shall be happier apart." + +"I don't doubt you would like that," he said brutally. "To be free to +gallivant in your frivolous way at my expense, and under the protection +of my name! I prefer to exercise full control over my wife. You are my +wife, remember. Nothing's going to alter that. And since you bear my +name I will see that you respect it. There's going to be no scandal in +this family. Separation! So that's what you are after! Good God! I +would sooner see you lying dead in your coffin than that you should +disgrace the name of Morgan by dragging it into the courts." + +She smiled coldly. His arrogant rhetoric recalled annoyingly William's +pride in the Graynor Honour. They both seemed to fear these things were +in jeopardy through her. The tissue-paper wrappings in which they +preserved these qualities appeared to her as consistent as they were +inadequate. There was a hollow ring in all this noisy talk. Respect +was to her a personal attribute, which revealed itself daily in the +commonplace round of homely things. She was not in the least concerned +as to its chance of safe keeping in her possession. + +"I'll go to bed," she said. "It isn't very profitable to stay here +wrangling at this hour of night. And to-morrow I will go home. I want +to get away. I am weary of everything." + +"_This_ is your home," he said sharply. Prudence looked at him +strangely. + +"This has never been home to me," she replied. "It is your home. It is +more your mother's home than mine. I have not even authority to order +the meals, or direct the household." + +"That's your own fault," he returned curtly. "You evinced no interest +in these matters." + +"Largely, it is my own fault," she agreed, with surprising meekness. "I +am responsible for the arrangement of my life, and I have done it very +badly." + +She was perilously near to weeping. She felt that if she did not escape +immediately she would break down in front of him, and that was the last +thing she desired to happen. But he would not let her go at once. He +detained her while he put further questions to her relative to Steele. +Had she made any arrangement to meet him again? That was a suspicion +which had jerked itself into his mind and would not be dislodged. He +was jealous of the man. It was jealousy which had lashed him to his +mood of unreasonable anger; it was jealousy which prompted him to ask +this question of her, though in his heart he did not believe her capable +of that. + +"What do you take me for?" she demanded fiercely, and shook off his +detaining hand as if it stung her. "I am going away in order to avoid +meeting him. Oh! let me go. I can't stand any more to-night. If you +had been wise you would have kept silent and let me bury this thing in +the most secret place of my heart. There are things one ought not to +speak of." + +"I have a right to your full confidence," he said. + +"Ah!" she cried, and brushed a tear away. "If you only knew how much +you lose in insisting on your rights!" + +With which she left him to his reflections, and went quickly from the +room. + +CHAPTER THIRTY SIX. + +It was strange that in this bitter crisis of her life the old home, from +which she had longed so impatiently to escape in the days of her +impulsive girlhood, should seem to Prudence a refuge from the distresses +which now overwhelmed her. She wanted to return to her childhood's +home, to her father, to the bedroom with its window facing south and the +roses lifting their heads to the sunlight below the sill. These +familiar pleasant things in their quiet beauty appealed to her +irresistibly. There was a suggestion of peace in the homely picture, of +escape from misunderstanding and worry and the near danger of a presence +which she feared to face. + +Edward Morgan raised no objection to her going. Relations between +himself and his wife were so strained since his unusual outburst of +passion that he was relieved to be spared the awkwardness of daily +intercourse for a time. A brief separation might more readily effect a +reconciliation between them than the present hostile conditions of life +together promised. His attitude of cold courtesy towards her, her +silent aloofness, threatened to widen the distances irrevocably; and Mr +Morgan had no desire for an open breach. It was his intention to patch +up the quarrel. Prudence had not arrived at this stage. Her thought +was solely for the present. She realised the urgent need to get away, +to escape from Morningside, and from her husband and this life which had +grown so painful to her. + +The return to her old home stuck in her memory by reason of the sense of +change here as elsewhere. The influence of the times had its grip on +Wortheton, on Court Heatherleigh and its inmates. William, whose manner +was oddly unwelcoming towards his sister, was much occupied at the +works, and troubled with labour discontent, and the threatened invasion +of the Trades Union. Some of his workpeople had struck for increased +wages. The increase had been granted after considerable delay; but the +strikers had been compelled to apologise before they were allowed to +resume their places. That was the beginning of the end of William's +autocracy. Higher wages were given elsewhere, and the workpeople spoke +sullenly among themselves of going in quest of better pay and fairer +treatment. The Wortheton factories were fated to come into line with +the rest. + +At Court Heatherleigh the family had decreased in numbers, the younger +Miss Graynor being absent on war work. And Agatha had developed the +knitting habit, and was never to be seen without a ball of wool and +needles in her hands. Even during meals she occupied herself with +knitting between the courses. The irreproachable butler was somewhere +in France behind the lines, and his place had not been filled; the +eminently respectable, severe-looking parlourmaid carried on unaided for +the present. Eventually the war engulfed her also; and she drifted from +Wortheton to a munition factory with the settled purpose of bringing the +war to a close. + +Prudence observed these changes with wonderment. Somehow she had not +supposed that a war even could alter the course of life in Wortheton-- +that lichenous spot, which seemed to have detached itself from the +general progress and fallen into contented slumber for all time. But +the booming of the guns had effectually disturbed its repose. The +booming of those guns in France penetrated everywhere and found their +echo in every heart. + +Old Mr Graynor alone stood apart from these things. He was too old and +feeble to feel a great interest in anything beyond the personal aspect +of the great upheaval. He was concerned at his daughters leaving home, +and was anxious for Bobby's safety; but the war between the nations, +which he was fated never to see ended, was too amazing and too vast to +hold his attention. The discussions in the home circle provided all the +information he gleaned of the progress of events. + +He was glad of Prudence's company. She, as well as himself, stood +outside the general activity, and conveyed by her presence something of +the atmosphere of the past. He accepted her reappearance in the home +without question. He was growing forgetful and, save when Edward +Morgan's name was mentioned, did not appear to remember his existence. +The changes which had taken the others away had brought Prudence home; +that was how he saw things; and he liked to have her there. + +"I'm getting old, Prue," he told her. "I've taken to falling asleep in +my chair, and my memory plays me tricks. It is good to have you back. +They are all so busy; the old man gets overlooked and forgotten. You'll +stay with me?" + +"Yes," Prudence answered, responding to the wistful tone in his shaky +voice; "as long as you want me." + +He was the only person in all the world, she reflected, who really had +need of her. His dependence on her comforted her greatly. They were +both of them lonely souls, whom the rush of events left stranded beyond +reach of the changing tides. + +It was early spring, and the depression of those first months of war +brooded like a dark cloud over everything. The garden, which in former +years had blazed with bloom, seemed to have taken on an air of mourning +with the rest. Only a solitary bulb here and there, left in the soil +from a past season, lifted its defiant head among the empty borders. +The Court was short-handed; and Agatha had deemed it unfitting to waste +time and money over the planting of unnecessary flowers. But below +Prudence's window the _gloire de Dijon_ roses were opening slowly, +bringing their golden promise of warmer days to come. + +In the evenings, when her father had retired early as his custom was of +late, Prudence would stand at her old place and lean upon the sill and +look out over the shadowy stillness upon the white riband of road beyond +the walls. And her thoughts would travel back to the days when she had +leaned there as a girl and watched a man go striding down the hill, +whistling as he walked. She had dreamed of love in those days, and of +romance: but these things too had passed her by and gone down the road +of life, following the man's destiny out of her sight. When one has +voluntarily accepted the lesser gift it is vain to hunger after what +might have been. There are two philosophies in life, and they both lead +to definite points, and each has its followers: the one is to accept +one's lot, whatever it may be, and bear it courageously; the other is to +cast off responsibility and take what offers agreeably as the +opportunity presents itself. The individual can resolve for himself +alone which is the better course. Temptation assails people +differently. The prudent nature is not necessarily always the higher; +but discretion is a wise virtue, and restraint is a proof of strength. + +Not until the night of her unexpected meeting with Steele had Prudence's +fortitude been really tried. She had felt it to be unequal to battle, +and had not stayed to test its strength. Safety for her lay in flight. +Yet had she paused to reflect she might have realised that by her flight +she betrayed her weakness to the man who had avowed in passionate terms +his determination to meet and have speech with her again. + +Prudence had sought only to avoid a further meeting; but while she stood +at her window a few nights after her return to Court Heatherleigh a +sudden conviction seized her that Steele would make inquiries, would +discover her movements, might even follow her. He had been in earnest +when he had said: "We've got to meet and talk this matter out... It's +not going to end like this. Now that I know you love me nothing else +counts." + +Nothing else counts! ... So many things counted; so many conflicting +interests stood between her and this reckless reasoning. It was not in +his right, nor in hers, to set aside every consideration that baulked +his desire. + +Prudence rested her elbows on the sill and sunk her chin in her hands +and remained still, lost in thought. It was late. The big clock in the +hall had chimed the hour of midnight; but still she lingered there-- +lingered in the windy moonlight, which the dark clouds, hurrying athwart +the sky, intermittently obscured. A fever of pain and unrest fired her +blood, and sent the warm colour to her cheeks where it burned, two +brilliant spots of crimson, that defied the cooling breath of the wind. +A sense of something impending held her breathless. All that day she +had felt an influence at work, an intangible something which oppressed +and oddly disquieted her; the prescience of some unexpected event armed +her against surprise. She stood at the window as one who watches and +waits for the event to befall. She did not know what she expected, what +she waited for in the silent room, that room in which she had lived +through so many emotions, none more disturbing than those which swayed +her now. She felt that something was about to happen. The suggestion +of a presence near her was so real that she could not rest. She had no +thought of going to bed. Something in the night called to her +imperatively and kept her at her post. + +Suddenly while she leaned there her attention was caught by a sound +below her window, a sound which brought with it a rush of memories which +were a part of the past. Some one moved swiftly out from the shadows of +the bushes and stood under her window and called to her softly by name. +The quiet authority of that voice set her pulses beating rapidly, till +the thudding of her heart sounded loudly in her ears. For a long moment +she remained motionless, looking down through the shadowy moonlight upon +a man's upturned face, a strong determined face with purposeful eyes +raised to meet her shrinking gaze. + +Prudence half drew back, and put a hand over her breast with a quick +involuntary movement; at the same moment the man below drew himself a +foot or so nearer to her by grasping at the trellis against which the +rose-bush was trained. + +"If you don't come down, I will come up to you," Steele said. + +"Oh! wait," she cried. + +She remained for awhile irresolute; then, as if in answer to an +impatient movement from below, she said quietly: + +"Please be cautious. I will join you in a minute." + +And the next moment the light of the moon was eclipsed and the stars +paled to insignificance--or so it seemed to Steele--as her form vanished +from above him, and he was alone in the windy darkness with the clouds +trailing drearily across the face of the moon. + +CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN. + +Prudence slipped a cloak over her evening dress and softly unlatched her +bedroom door and stepped out on to the landing. There was no show of +hesitation in her movements now. She was doing an unwise thing; she +realised that perfectly; but something outside her volition urged her on +to the course she was taking. She wanted to see Philip Steele, to talk +with him once more--for the last time--talk with him uninterruptedly +with no fear of being seen or overheard, with the certainty of being +alone together, unsuspected, and with no explanations to be demanded by +any one concerning their doings. The freedom of the thought was like a +breath of fresh air in her lungs. + +But there was need for caution too. She stood still for a second or so +on the landing, and listened with rapidly beating heart to the sounds +which disturbed the silence of the sleeping house. Every one had gone +to bed hours before; the lights were all extinguished; but the moonlight +shone at intervals brightly through the big windows, and illumined the +staircase and the hall below. + +Prudence grasped the bannister and began the descent. Carefully though +she trod, the stairs creaked ominously as they never seemed to creak in +the daylight. And the great clock in the hall swung its heavy pendulum +noisily backwards and forwards. The familiar sound struck unfamiliarly +on her excited fancy; it seemed to her that the old clock was ticking a +warning, that it sought to rouse the house. Stealthily she crossed the +hall towards the drawing-room; the windows were easier to unfasten than +the barred and chained front door. To reach the drawing-room it was +necessary to pass the library; in doing so a sound from within the room +caught her attention, causing her heart to momentarily stop its beating. +Some one was moving about, treading with heavy cautiousness over the +carpet. She took a hurried run, heedless, in her fear of being +discovered there, whether her footsteps were audible or not, and gaining +the drawing-room door, slipped inside the room, and remained still, +watchful and alert. + +The figure of a man emerged from the library, hesitated, and then +approached the hat-rack in the hall. Prudence watched the man while he +divested himself of his cap and overcoat and shoes before going quietly +upstairs, shoes in hand, to his room. She stood amazed and surveyed +these doings through the narrow opening of the partially closed door. +Intuition assured her that these mysterious proceedings were not +connected in any way with herself. Whatever it was that had taken +William abroad it could have no association with her concerns. William +had shown as furtively anxious a desire to avoid detection as she had; +he wore the air of a person engaged in nefarious practices. The hall +was not sufficiently light to reveal the expression of worried annoyance +on his face; she recognised only the familiar outline of his form, and +noted the secretiveness of his movements, and the care with which, in +his stockinged feet, he had crept upstairs. + +Abruptly some words of Bobby's, uttered half jestingly years ago, +recurred in an illuminating flash across her mind: "You are taking it +too much for granted that the old boy's life is lived on the surface." +Perhaps after all William had a life apart from the factory and the +home, a life which he did not choose to reveal before the world. It was +strangely disconcerting to discover a person whom one had believed +hitherto to have walked always circumspectly through life, stealing +furtively about the house in the middle of the night like a burglar in +search of plunder. + +In the surprise of this amazing development in the night's proceedings, +Prudence lost sight of her own fears and became wonderfully clear-headed +and reliant. The responsibility of her present action weighed less +heavily with her. She unfastened the window quietly, and without haste, +and stepped out on to the gravelled path. Immediately Steele was beside +her. It seemed to her little short of miraculous that William should be +abroad and have failed to discover his presence. Steele, as a matter of +fact, was alive to William's nocturnal prowling, and had concealed +himself from sight among the shrubs. He came forward now quickly and +with caution, took Prudence's hand, and led her from the garden. + +"Some one's about," he said. + +"William," she whispered back. "We only missed coming face to face in +the hall by the fraction of a second." + +"I know." He gripped her hand tightly. "When I saw him pass round the +corner of the house I made sure you'd run into him. What's he doing, +anyway?" + +"I don't know. He was so anxious to avoid detection that it was easy to +evade him." She laughed nervously. "I wonder what would have happened +if I had run into him?" + +They passed through the gate side by side and came out on the moonlit +road. Steele drew his companion into the shadow of the wall and caught +her in his arms and kissed her. + +"Oh, Prudence!" he said, and held her, scrutinising the shadowy outline +of her face, with the dear eyes, misty and starlike, gazing sadly back +into his. + +She made a feeble effort to extricate herself from his embrace. + +"I don't think we ought," she said, and found herself suddenly crying, +with her face pressed against his shoulder. + +It was altogether wrong. She knew quite well that she ought not to be +there alone with him in the night. She had not allowed for his +following her to Wortheton. The shock of seeing him again unnerved her. +Steele soothed her and kissed the tears away. Then he started to walk +again, keeping his arm about her. + +"We can't talk here," he said. "I've a lot of things to say to you. +We'll cut across the fields and sit on that jolly stile where I +discovered you picking primroses--was it really seven years ago? Seven +years! My God! Prudence, what a fool I was to believe you would wait +for me till that time." + +"I didn't know..." she faltered. + +"Never mind," he said quickly. "We won't speak of it. We'll wipe the +years out. You are here--with me. The other is just a dream. It was +yesterday that we picked primroses together, and spent the morning +mooning in the woods. You were so sweet, dear. I just loved you. I so +longed to kiss you that day. What a fool I was not to kiss you. I +remember so well how the sunlight played on your hair. I watched it, +and loved it--and you. Oh, my dear!" + +"Don't!" Prudence urged him. "I can't bear it. And I ought not to +listen. You mustn't say these things to me--now." + +"But I must," he said. And added: "Now! Why not now? It's my time. +As though it matters--anything. I'm not going to consider anything but +just my need of you. You are mine, by every right under the sun." + +"No," she protested. "No! I can't let you say these things. I ought +not to have come out with you. Don't make me regret coming." + +He was silent for a while after that; and she heard him breathing in +hard deep breaths as he walked close by her side. Many emotions stirred +him; passion and desire and resentment strove furiously within him, +making speech difficult, and defeating his effort after control. The +sense of loss, of defeat, weighed bitterly with him. He wanted her so, +wanted her with an intensity that resembled hunger--wanted her urgently, +savagely, with a crude, primitive, human want that was for setting aside +every consideration, every civilised law and code; that was for taking +the law into his own hands and making her see eye to eye with himself. +And she would not see things as he wished her to. She was difficult. +She was altogether too civilised. + +He turned to her abruptly, and snapped the silence sharply by hurling an +unexpected question at her. + +"Why did you come out?" he asked. "What did you expect?" + +"I don't know," she answered, and drew a little away from him. "I think +I wanted to talk to you just once more before--we parted." + +"Oh!" he said, with a short laugh. "So that was it? If that was your +only reason you shouldn't have come. I'm not intending to part--like +that anyhow. I wanted to talk to you on quite another subject. You +were stolen from me. I'm for stealing you back. I haven't any +scruples--of that kind Mine was the greater injury. I love you. You +love me. You can't deny that, Prudence." + +Prudence made no attempt to deny it. She faced him fully in the +moonlight with her steady eyes lifted to his in saddened appeal. He +realised the quiet strength of her nature with a sense of impotent anger +in feeling it opposed to his will. There was going to be a fight in any +case and the issue appeared uncertain. + +"Whether we love one another or not," she said, "we have to bear in mind +that I am married." + +She was indeed more conscious of the fact at the moment than of any +other. She felt the necessity of impressing it upon him. But Steele +needed no reminding. The rage in his heart leapt up at her words like a +flame fed by some combustible fluid. He seized her roughly in his arms +and rained hot kisses upon her mouth. + +"But you don't love him?" he breathed. "You don't love him?" He stared +at her as she pushed his face back, and laughed harshly. "God! Do you +suppose I'm not bearing it in mind?--every moment since I learned the +truth from your lips? It's like murder in my heart, that knowledge. +I'd like to kill him. I could have struck him in the face that night +when he came in and found us together, and took you away. And he +knows... He knows that only the legal tie binds you to him. I saw the +knowledge in his eyes. He doesn't trust you. If he knew that you were +out here, walking with me in the night, he would believe the worst. +He's that type of man. Nothing you could say would convince him +otherwise. They are made like that, those narrow, strictly conventional +people. They daren't trust their own emotions; they never allow them +full play. And they don't trust any one else. They judge others by +their own feeble standards. They aren't human--it's sawdust, not blood, +in their veins." + +He helped her over the first stile and led her along the field-path and +so on to the next gate. Prudence was rather silent and worried and +somewhat dispirited. She left him to do the talking, and walked on like +a woman only half awake, to whom everything appears hazy and a little +unreal. And he unfolded his views to her on life, and love, and +happiness, and the right of the individual to independent action. + +"It's not as though this business of marriage were a natural +institution," he argued; "it's purely artificial. When a man and a +woman are honestly in love they don't bother with that aspect of the +relationship. They just want one another. Marriage is merely a result +attendant on the natural impulse. I came home with the idea of marrying +you, and I find you no longer free. That fact maddens me; its fills me +with despair. But it doesn't alter the initial fact that I want you. +That desire is no less keen than before I heard of your marriage. +Prudence, dearest, be true to yourself. You love me. Come with me-- +now. I came down here for that purpose--to take you away with me." + +He pulled her down on the stile beside him and put his arm about her and +held her close to him. She did not repulse him. She felt strangely +little angry at what he said. She was too greatly moved to experience +the lesser emotions which a sense of outraged virtue might have called +forth at another time. She had hurt this man badly; and she felt too +sorry for him to resent in indignant terms the proposal which he made. +He wanted her, wanted her urgently; and they loved one another. Why had +she allowed the years to separate them so irrevocably? + +"You don't answer," he said, and brought his face nearer to here and +looked her in the eyes. "You don't answer me." + +His voice shook with hardly repressed passion; his whole form shook. +She felt the shoulder which pressed against her shoulder tremble, and +the hand which gripped hers trembled also, and was burning to the touch. + +"You don't answer," he said again hoarsely. + +"My dear," she said, "what is there to say?" And broke down again and +wept. + +CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT. + +There was a great deal which she might have said, Steele thought, as he +held her sobbing in his arms, and tried to convince her that happiness +for both of them lay in following the path along which he sought to +direct her steps. He wanted her so; and they loved one another--two +all-sufficient reasons, as he saw matters, for throwing such deterrent +considerations as honour and duty to the winds. They owed a duty to +themselves as well as to others, he argued; and a loveless marriage was +dishonouring. She ought not to submit to the spoiling of both their +lives from motives of no higher consideration than fear of the world's +censure. + +"What does it matter to us what any one thinks?" he asked. "This ruling +of one's life by the world's opinion is ridiculous. Here we are, you +and I, in love with one another, wanting one another. Life is very +sweet and precious while one loves. Prudence, but it isn't worth more +than a sigh when one is denied love. I want to make you mine before I +leave for France. We'll have our time together. Then, when I come +back, I will take you with me--to a new country where no one knows +anything about us. Dear, we shall be so happy." + +"You may never come back," Prudence said, and sat up and started to dry +her tears. "What would become of me then?" + +"I may not, of course." He stared at her with his hot eager eyes, +careless in that hour of passionate longing about the consequences +involved. He knew that for himself there was only one certainty--the +present. He lived in the present; it was useless to look ahead. +"Aren't you ready to risk something? I'd rather leave you my widow than +not have you," he declared. "I can't go away feeling that you belong to +some one else. Prudence, I'm mad with jealousy. I'm jealous of that +man's claim on you. I'm beside myself. I don't know what I'm saying. +I know only one thing--I want you. I'm just hungry for you. I can't +rest." + +"Oh, hush!" she said. + +"But you've got to hear," he insisted. "You've got to know. I've been +like this since you told me your news. I lie awake at nights, thinking, +thinking, till it seems as if I were going mad. I think of you always. +I'm wanting you always. For years I've thought of you as mine. I meant +from the beginning to win you. Life's just a nightmare for me while I +know you belong to some one else. You made a mistake. Set it right, +dear--as far as you can. Give yourself to me. Say you will--now." + +He seized her again in his arms and held her and set his lips to hers. +Frightened as well as distressed. Prudence struggled against him, +pushed his face gently away. She felt the quick beating of his heart +against her breast while he held her close, and she knew that her own +heart was beating as rapidly; the pulses in her throat were going like +tiny hammers. The ardour of his kisses excited her. All the natural +impulses of youth, repressed so long, leapt up to answer his passion and +flamed into warmth beneath his touch. He stirred her, tempted her. She +had never experienced passionate love before, but she knew it now; it +burned her lips and set her blood on fire. She was a woman alight with +love for the first time in her life. Her eyes glowed softly, and behind +their glow, dried up as it were by that flame of love, the mist of +sorrow's unshed rain welled slowly and dimmed her sight of him. + +"You can't refuse me," he pleaded. "My darling, you can't send me out +of your life." + +"Oh, don't!" she sobbed, and clung to the gate, half swooning, and +rested her face on her arm. "You've no right to say these things to me; +it's wicked of me to listen. I ought not to have come out. I don't +know what to do. I don't know what to say to you. It's all so +difficult." + +He refused to admit the difficulty. + +"If you had an ounce of pluck," he said--"if you cared, you would know +what to do all right. I am asking you for one thing; it's yes or no. +Prudence." + +He gripped her shoulder and pulled her forcibly round till she faced him +again. + +"Look here!" he cried hoarsely. "Listen to me for a moment. This may +be the last time I shall see you--it will be the last time, if you +refuse what I ask. If I didn't know that you love me I wouldn't worry +you. I shouldn't want you if you did not want me. But you do. I don't +care a damn about your marriage. If you'll trust me, and come to me, +you shall never regret it. Oh! my little love!--my sweetheart! Don't +refuse what I ask. It means everything to me. Say you will, dear?" + +"Oh, don't!" she entreated him again, and shrank back from the passion +in his eyes. + +But his arms were about her; they held her tightly. + +"Are you afraid?" he said, his face grim and set. "I'm dangerous to you +to-night, and you know it. Here we are alone in the night together. +What is to prevent me from taking what I want? Why should I consider +your scruples--or anything? I am going out to that inferno... Why +shouldn't I seize my good hour before I go? What's to prevent me? +What's to prevent me from kissing you now?" + +He leaned over her and rained kisses on her mouth, kisses that seared +her lips, that almost stifled her. He was giving rein to his passion. +A quality both wild and lawless sprang to life in him and overrode his +better nature for the time. Disappointed hope and baulked desire drove +him to a frenzy of excess which in saner moments he would not have +believed himself capable of. He would have been horrified at this +complete loss of control had he been able to appreciate it. But a +spirit of recklessness held him before which his commonsense melted like +snow consumed by the fires which passion lit in his breast. It occurred +to him while he held her, crushed and trembling, in his arms and kissed +her madly, that he was a fool to attempt to reason with her. A girl +nursed in the washy traditions of her class, as Prudence was, should not +be hampered with the responsibility of choice: he ought to decide for +her--ought to take full responsibility for the step he was urging her to +accede to. It wasn't fair to burden her conscience with a sense of +willing concession. That was where he had made the mistake. He was +asking too much of her. + +"Little love," he whispered against her lips, "don't be afraid. There +is nothing to fear in love; and I love you better than life. You are +going with me to-night. No, don't speak! You are nervous and unstrung. +You don't know what you want. Leave this to me. I've got a car +waiting in the village. We'll travel up to town in it; and later, when +I am drafted across the water, you'll go to France as my wife, and live +there until I can be with you again." + +He drew back his head to look at her, and his face softened to a +wonderful tenderness; there were tears in his eyes. After a barely +perceptible pause, he resumed more quietly: + +"Prudence, I've thought of this hour day and night since I saw your dear +face light up at sight of me, and your dear eyes smile their welcome +into mine. You are mine by every natural law; and I'm going to take +you. Scruples! We have no use for such folly. They didn't scruple to +marry you to a man too old for you. He had no scruple against taking +you without love. They've themselves to thank for this. What does it +matter? It's our own lives we have to think for. Leave everything to +me. Don't worry. I'll manage things. I am taking you away with me +to-night... Life's going to be just splendid, dear. We'll be together. +Oh, Prudence, it will be great--wonderful! My dear! ... Oh, my +dearest!" + +Very tenderly he kissed her lips again. Prudence suddenly disengaged +herself from his arms and slipped to her feet and stood facing him, the +moonlight splashed on her hair and face, and on the slender bare arms, +which she lifted on an impulse, bringing the hands to rest on his +shoulders. + +"We can't, dear," she said. "We can't. It isn't that I'm afraid; it +isn't that I don't love you--better than any one in all the world. It's +just because I love you so well, I think, that I can't have the beauty +of it spoiled. That sort of thing brings regret--always." + +"You don't dare," he said in sullen tones. "You are thinking of what +people will say." + +"No; it isn't that. I don't wish to pose as good--I've never been good. +But clean and decent living appeals to me. I'm cold, perhaps--even a +little hard; it isn't so difficult for me to practise restraint--when I +try--hard. I'm loving you with all my heart, dear; but I don't want to +do what you ask. If I agreed, I should hate myself, my life, +everything, when the glamour faded and I had time to reflect. I know +myself so well. I would rather go on with my dull loveless life than go +away with you and lose my self-respect." + +"You don't love me," he said. "You couldn't talk like that if you were +in love. It's unnatural. I'd risk damnation for you." + +She leaned a little nearer to him, and a new quality came into her +voice; her face was solemn and tender. + +"There's something else I'm thinking of besides these things," she said. +"I can't bear that you should go to face death--to meet death, +perhaps--with this sin upon your soul. I don't like to think that men +can talk so lightly of sinning in such grave and terrible times." + +He made an impatient sound that was like a cry of protest, and moved +restlessly under her hands. + +"Oh, hang it all! One doesn't want to be thinking all the time about +that." + +"When death stands so close as it stands to nearly every one of us these +days; when one reads of nothing else," she added quietly; "it makes one +think. It alters all one's view of life. I used to feel that my own +life mattered tremendously; that I had to make the most of every +opportunity which might add to my enjoyment. Now I see things +differently. I don't hold a lesser belief in the importance of life, +quite the reverse; but the personal point of view is altogether +unimportant. Satisfaction comes from living worthily. I have never +done that. I have been always selfish and inconsiderate for others. I +believe that to-night you have taught me self-knowledge. Teach me also +to be strong." + +Her voice fell into silence, but she did not remove her hands from his +shoulders. And he remained for a few seconds motionless, looking at her +without speaking. The appeal in her eyes and in her voice was +irresistible; it was as an appeal to his manhood from some one +pathetically weak and conscious of her weakness; and the better side of +his nature responded to it. But it cost him more than she could ever +know to relinquish his dreams at her bidding. + +He put his hands over hers and stood up. And so they remained for a +while close together, looking into each other's eyes. + +"You are everything to me," he said at last, breaking the silence +unexpectedly. "I've thought of you so much--thought of you always as +belonging to me. It doesn't seem possible to rid myself of that idea. +I've no interest in life outside it." + +"I know," she said. "I know. It is not going to be easy for me +either." + +They came upon another pause. + +"At least you have a cause to fight for," she said presently. + +He shook his head. + +"All that doesn't count, somehow. But I shall be glad to go now. I +shall never come back. Prudence." + +"Ah, don't!" she cried, with a sob in her voice. "Don't say that. I +shall pray for your safety every day of my life." + +"Pray rather for a swift and merciful bullet," he said. Then, seeing +the pain in her eyes, he took her face between his hands and kissed it. +"Don't cry, little love. There are worse things to face than the long +sleep. Alive or dead, you will live in my heart always. Keep my place +green in your memory, dear." + +She dropped her face on his breast and sobbed her heart out in the +shelter of his arms. + +CHAPTER THIRTY NINE. + +More credit is given to heroism which arises from physical courage than +is accorded usually to moral bravery. Yet the standard of physical +courage, however loudly acclaimed, ranks no higher. To win a victory +over one's self demands greater strength of purpose than is required for +the defeat of an ordinary foe. To obey a sense of right from motives +other than discretion necessitates courage of a superior order. And it +is through this courage, this quiet self-denial, that the world is kept +a little better, a little sweeter, than would be possible if each +individual set-out with the poor determination to gratify his every +desire. + +Prudence had won a victory; but she did not feel triumphant; there was +no conscious elation in her heart. If the night air struck fresher and +purer by reason of this restraint, it also struck very chill. Its cold +breath enveloped her. She was weary and sad at heart. + +Steele, too, was silent and dispirited. He parted from her in the road +outside the gate, parted in almost apathetic calmness, and turned and +walked quickly away down the hill. He did not once look back to where +Prudence waited at the gate and watched him with sad eyes, tearless now, +until the night enfolded him and hid him from her view. Then she let +herself into the house and went wearily up to bed. + +That was the beginning and the end of her romance. All the fine +thinking in the world could not reduce the feeling of irreparable loss +which she experienced in the knowledge that he had passed out of her +life for ever. She had sent him away; and all her happiness went with +him, all her love. If for a moment she regretted the triumph of virtue, +it was but a transitory regret; but she did regret, passionately, that +life had come between her and the realisation of love. She believed +that she could never feel happy any more. She also believed that she +could not return to her husband. The thought of living again beneath +his roof was hateful to her. + +Then merciful sleep overtook her, and the darkness closed down upon the +misery of her thoughts. + +The morning brought no relief. Heavy-eyed and languid, Prudence went +downstairs, to find that she was late for prayers. She was aware of +William's gaze, as she slipped quietly into the room and took her seat, +fixed upon her with a curious, it seemed to her, even a suspicious +scrutiny. He paused in the reading and waited with a sort of aggressive +patience until she was seated. Then he continued in his sonorous voice +reading the lesson for the day. + +Upon the finish of prayers breakfast followed, after which Mr Graynor +repaired to the library with Prudence who since her return read the +papers to him because of his failing sight. William prepared to start +out on the day's business. From the library Prudence could hear him +calling loudly for his boots, and demanding of the servant who brought +them why they were not in their accustomed place. It transpired that he +had omitted to put them outside his bedroom door on the previous night +and thereby caused delay in the cleaning of them. He muttered something +in response, and hastily proceeded to draw them on. + +The servant meanwhile went to the front door in answer to an imperative +ring. Commotion followed upon the opening of the door. Mr Graynor +looked round at these unexpected interruptions and signed to Prudence to +cease reading. She sat with the newspaper open in her hands and +listened to the sound of angry voices without. + +Some one had entered and was talking loudly and defiantly to William in +the hall. William was doing his utmost to eject the intruder and to +talk her down at the same time--two impossible feats. The noise of +their voices raised in fierce altercation drew nearer; and, attracted by +the disturbance, Agatha made her appearance from the morning-room and +stood, pink and trembling with indignation, looking upon the scene in +incredulous amazement. + +"What is that--creature doing here?" she asked of her brother. + +He seemed to find some difficulty in answering her, and, evading her +eyes, glared furiously at the defiant young woman, who, holding a child +by the hand, maintained her stand with an air of assurance which refused +to be cowed by his lowering scowl. + +"You tell 'er what I want," she said. "I don't mind." + +"Go away," he shouted. "Do you hear? Go away!" + +"It isn't difficult to 'ear you," she retorted sharply. "I want a word +with you, William Graynor; and I'm not going away until I've 'ad it." + +"Turn her out," Miss Agatha exclaimed, shocked and affronted. "How dare +she speak to you like that?" + +"Why don't you tell 'er," the insolent voice insisted, "what I've come +for, and why I speak as I do? Seems as if you was afraid of 'er." + +She looked round suddenly, and caught sight of Mr Graynor, standing +with the library door open, surveying the scene. She shrank back, +quailing before the cold anger of his look. But he had recognised her, +and spoke now in a voice of sharp command. + +"Come in here, girl," he said; and to his son he added fiercely: +"William, bring that woman inside, and shut the door." + +From force of habit, perhaps too because he recognised that there was no +possible chance of evading explanations, William obeyed the order. He +allowed Bessie Clapp to precede him, and following her into the room, +shut the door sharply behind him, and stood with his back against it in +an attitude of gloomy anger. Once he looked at Prudence, seated +opposite their father with the newspaper in her lap, regarding the woman +and child with pitiful understanding eyes. He would have liked to +suggest the advisability of her retiring; but his natural effrontery had +deserted him, and he remained silent. + +Bessie Clapp also looked at Prudence. The sight of the quiet figure, +the light of friendly interest in the blue eyes, proved heartening: the +hardness melted from her own face. Standing a few steps inside the door +against which William leaned, superb in her magnificent beauty, with the +child clinging nervously to her hand, she confronted Mr Graynor, who, +reseating himself, remained staring at her fixedly across the +writing-table upon which he rested his shaking hand. + +The stillness of their various poses, for with the closing of the door +each had maintained a rigid immovability, was fraught with significance. +There was no need for a verbal explanation of the presence of the woman +with her child in that house. Mr Graynor knew, Prudence knew, as +surely as William and the girl, what brought her there. Nevertheless +Mr Graynor, leaning heavily upon the table, with his cold eyes upon the +girl's frightened face, demanded the reason of her noisy intrusion. + +"I told her not to come," William interposed sullenly. "I dared her to +come here annoying you." + +Mr Graynor silenced him with a gesture, never once removing his gaze +from the nervous, but still defiant, face. His question had been +addressed to the girl, and he waited for her to answer him. She drew +the child closer to her, and looked into the cold unsympathetic face of +her questioner, and answered with a sort of sulky shame: + +"I've brought William Graynor's son 'ome." + +William made a move, taking a quick step towards her as though he would +have silenced her with force; but no one looked in his direction; and he +shrank back to his former position by the door. + +"You make a serious charge," Mr Graynor said, speaking harshly. "It +will go hard with you if you cannot prove your words." + +"I can prove them all right," she answered sulkily. + +"I do not believe you," Mr Graynor said. "This sort of thing has been +tried often enough. It is an audacious lie. I say it is a lie. Give +me your proof." + +Bessie Clapp smiled faintly. Her manner was growing more assured; the +nervousness which the unexpected sight of him had caused her, was less +apparent now. + +"You can't 'ave looked at the boy," she said, and bent down and removed +the cap from the child's head and turned his face towards the man who +questioned the truth of her statement. + +Mr Graynor had given only a cursory glance at the child; he looked now +more closely, and, staring with dim eyes fierce with passionate anger +into the small face, beheld as in the days of his own youth the features +of his elder son faithfully reproduced. There could be no dispute as to +the likeness. A sickening sense of the truth of the woman's claim, +which before he had not so much doubted as refused to admit, held him +dumb. He put his hand before his eyes to shut out the sight of the +child's face; and the little fellow, thoroughly frightened now, began to +whimper. His mother held him and hushed his cries. + +"You see," she said, watching Mr Graynor curiously, fascinated and +somewhat awed by his evident emotion; "that's my proof. One 'as only to +look at 'im to see who's 'is father." + +A groan escaped Mr Graynor's lips. He took his hand from before his +eyes, and pushed aside some papers on the table, and rested his arms on +it as before. + +"How dare you bring him here?" he asked in low shaking tones. "Why do +you bring him--now--after all this time? You want money, I suppose?" + +Bessie Clapp turned a resentful gaze from him to William, who, furtively +watching her, remained with his shoulders hunched dejectedly, scowling +malevolently at her, and at the child whose claim upon him she sought to +establish. + +"'E knows why I came," she said, indicating William with a brief nod. +"I gave 'im 'is chance; but 'e wouldn't 'elp me. I asked 'im to take +the child off my 'ands, and 'e refused. 'E thought the work'ouse good +enough for 'is son. But the work'ouse don't 'elp these cases; and +anyway I wouldn't care for 'im to go there. And I can't keep 'im no +longer I'm going to be married. My man's joined up, and I'll draw the +separation allowance. But 'e don't want _'is_ child." + +Again she gave a nod indicating William, and then brought her gaze back +to Mr Graynor's face. The sight of the pained humiliation of his look +caused a softening in her voice and manner. She had not wanted to +distress him; she was not vindictive. She only required that the father +of her child should make provision for it. He was wealthy enough to do +so. + +"I am sorry to 'ave 'ad to come," she said. "I didn't mean no 'arm. If +'e 'adn't treated me mean, I wouldn't 'a come. But I've got a chance +now to start fair. I want to place the child somewheres. Plenty would +take 'im if I could get the money guaranteed. But _'e_," with another +nod at William, "won't do nothing. That's why I came. I warned 'im all +right." + +The red of William's face deepened to purple. He looked at the woman as +if he would have killed her had he dared; but he did not move, did not +utter a word even in his own defence. His animus against this girl, who +had been his mistress, arose from the fact that she had broken with him. +Had the initiative been his he might have acted differently. He hated +her while he listened to her scornful denunciation of himself, and the +sordid story of his meanness which she mercilessly unfolded. Not a word +of what she uttered but had the ring of truth in it, and not a word in +the miserable recital reflected any credit upon himself. He shifted his +feet uneasily, and turned his furtive eyes from the spectacle of her +standing there in her dark and tragic beauty, with the boy clinging +timidly to her skirt, hiding his tear-stained face in her dress in fear +of the old man who sat and glared at him and spoke to his mother in +harsh angry tones. They frightened him, these strange people. He +wanted to go away from the big house, and this fierce old man, and the +red-faced man, whom he knew slightly but did not like. The red-faced +man so often made his mother cry. But the mother took no heed of the +small hands tugging at her dress; her thoughts were intent on other +matters than the child's distress. + +Mr Graynor, his face transformed with anger, turned to his son, and, in +a voice broken with emotion, with shame for that son's dishonourable +conduct and most despicable meanness, bade him speak. + +"You stand there and say nothing to these charges," he cried. "Why +don't you speak? Have you nothing to say in answer to what this woman +alleges?" + +"What is there to say?" William returned. "No doubt the child is mine. +But I don't flatter myself that I have been more favoured than others. +She is a loose woman; and she is lucky enough to have forced a claim on +me." + +"You lie, William Graynor," she said fiercely. "And you know that you +lie. From the time you pursued me, when I worked in the factory, a girl +of sixteen, to the moment when I met the man I am going to marry, I +never looked at another man. You are a mean liar, that's what you are." + +Mr Graynor, ignoring the speaker and still looking towards his son, +struck the table violently with his hand in an access of indignant +anger. + +"You admit the paternity of this child, and, instead of sharing the +responsibility, meanly try to shift it, and impugn the morality of a +woman whose immorality you brought about! How dare you utter these +things in my hearing?" + +"I've paid her," William excused himself, and fingered his collar +nervously as though it were too tight. "I kept her so long as--" He +broke off abruptly; and added in a savage voice: "She's had money enough +from me." + +"I'm not complaining of what's past," the girl interposed. "If you +'adn't stopped the payments I shouldn't be 'ere now. I can't afford to +keep the child. 'E's as much yours as mine." + +"There," Prudence broke in to the general astonishment, for she had +remained so quiet until now that they had almost forgotten her presence, +"you are mistaken. The law protects the man in these cases." + +"Then the law's rotten bad," said Bessie Clapp bitterly. + +Whether the sudden recollection of his daughter's presence decided Mr +Graynor to bring the interview to a close, or if he felt unequal to +further discussion is uncertain, but at this point he waved the girl to +silence, and unlocking a drawer in the table, took out his cheque book +and wrote a cheque and tore it out and passed it across the table to +her. + +"I will see that my son makes suitable provision for the child," he said +quaveringly. + +Bessie Clapp took the cheque and stood with it in her hand, looking at +him out of her dark, sombre eyes. + +"I'm sorry I come," she said falteringly. "I'm going right away from +'ere. You won't see me no more." + +Then suddenly Prudence rose. She left her place by the fire, and +crossing to where the other girl stood beside the table, she bent over +the child and took the little fellow by the hand and drew him to her. + +"I am a childless woman," she said, in a sweet voice full of sympathy, +"and I love children. Give him to me." + +CHAPTER FORTY. + +A bomb falling in their midst could scarcely have caused a greater +sensation than was produced by Prudence's request. The effect of her +speech and of her action was electrical. Only the child remained +unmoved; and he, reassured doubtless by the quiet composure of her +bearing amid the general tension, which he realised without +understanding it, and the sweet gentleness of her voice, ceased his +plaintive whimpering and stared at her with round eyes filled with +wonderment, and forgot his fear. + +Bessie Clapp stared also, a solemn light in her dark eyes, and with a +face grown tender and womanly, with all the hardness gone from its look. +But William Graynor, flushed with anger, strode forward to intervene; +and the old man, looking with disfavour upon the grouping, uttered: "No, +no!" in tones of sharp protest, and put out a hand and touched +Prudence's sleeve. + +"The child will be all right," he said. "Leave this to me." + +She turned to him with a wistful smile. + +"He's nobody's bairn," she said. "Nobody wants him--except me." + +"Your husband wouldn't like it," he remonstrated. "You have to consider +him. Take the child away," he added, addressing Bessie Clapp. "I will +communicate with you later." + +Prudence gave the boy into his mother's charge and walked with them to +the door. + +"If I can arrange it, are you willing to give him up to me entirely?" +she asked. + +"Yes, miss," Bessie answered in awed tones; and added, almost in a +whisper: "It 'ud be a fine thing for 'im, any'ow." + +"'E's good," she said, with the door open and her hand upon it. "'E +ban't like 'is father; 'e ban't mean." + +Prudence returned to confront her father and brother, both of them +disturbed, though in different degrees, by her unlooked for +interference. Mr Graynor regretted having allowed her to be present at +the interview, while William resented deeply the fact that his double +life should have been revealed to the young sister whom he had +systematically snubbed and preached to all the years she had lived in +the home. The knowledge that she wished to adopt his bastard son was +insupportable. + +"Let me beg, sir," he said, crimson and spluttering for words, "that you +won't permit this. It's indecent. It's--unthinkable. I can't agree to +it." + +"It has nothing," Prudence answered quietly, "to do with you." + +Mr Graynor fixed his dim angry eyes on his son's face, the passion +which he had kept under until now blazing up like a conflagration fanned +by a sudden draught. He had never felt so humiliated and ashamed in all +the years of his long life. For generations they had lived in +Wortheton, honourable men and women, with an unsullied record which it +remained for the present generation to smirch. It hurt him in his most +vulnerable spot, his pride, that this base and sordid sin should be laid +to his son's charge. + +"You despicable hypocrite!" he shouted. "How dare you question the +right of any one to undertake a responsibility you are not man enough to +shoulder? Had I known before of this low intrigue I would have +compelled you to marry the mother of your child. Fortunately for her, +she has found a better fate. As for the child--" He broke off abruptly, +and turned in his seat and sat looking into the fire. "Prudence and I +will settle that matter," he added more quietly. "Leave it to us." + +Without uttering another word, William went heavily out of the room. +Prudence approached the old man, who sat, a shrunken dejected figure, +before the hearth, and kneeling on the carpet beside him, put her arms +about him lovingly, and remained so in silence, while he looked steadily +into the fire, thinking back--hearing again in imagination her indignant +young voice speaking out of the past: "I will pray hard night and +morning that God will befriend Bessie Clapp." He put a hand upon her +hair and smoothed it caressingly. + +"This is a blow, Prue," he said. "It hits me hard." + +He roused himself after a while and sat straighter in his chair and +looked at her inquiringly. + +"What makes you think you would like to have the child?" he asked. + +"Because I have no little one of my own," she answered. "And this +little child's life promises to be a sad one. He has a claim on our +consideration; the same blood runs in his veins." + +"That is what makes your proposition impossible, as I see it," he said. +"Edward would not wish it. Think of the disgrace, my dear. One likes +to hide these things." + +"That's where I don't see with you," she replied gently. "In my opinion +it is in refusing to accept our responsibilities that we merit disgrace. +I've learned that quite lately. Let me try to explain." + +She clung closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder and was silent +for a space, plunged in thought. The old man continued his occupation +of stroking the bright hair, and was silent too, wondering what it was +that needed explanation. + +"You never asked me," Prudence said presently, "what it was that brought +me home so unexpectedly." + +"I was so glad," he replied, "to see you. It never occurred to me to +ask the reason of your coming. It's sufficient for me that you are +here." + +"Dear!" she said, and pressed his hand fondly. "I'm always glad to +come. I'm sorry that ever I went away. I came home because of a +quarrel with Edward. I left him in anger. I had thoughts of leaving +him altogether. You see, dear, I too have behaved badly. I meant to +shirk my responsibilities because they had grown irksome. Don't grieve, +daddy; that's all past. I've come to see that life can't be twisted to +suit each person's needs. We should make a hopeless tangle of it if we +followed that principle. There's one simple course for the straight and +decent liver--to accept life as it is and make the best of it. I mean +to write to Edward to-day and ask him to come down and fetch me. Then I +will tell him about the child. If he consents to my adopting him, I +shall take him back with me." + +"You will make Edward's consent a condition to your reconciliation?" +Mr Graynor asked. + +"Oh, no!" Prudence looked swiftly into his face. "I am hoping that he +will give it as a concession." + +She twined her arms about the old man's neck and drew his cheek to hers +and pressed hers against it. + +"I'm just hungry for a little child," she said. "I long to hear little +footsteps about the house, to know the clinging feel of little hands. +I'm just a sackful of motherhood tied down and repressed. I feel that I +can't go on like this much longer." + +"I wish you had a dozen babies of your own," he said wistfully. + +"My dear!" She was laughing now, though the tears shone behind the +laughter. "Half that number would serve." + +"I still don't like the idea of you adopting this child," Mr Graynor +said after a pause. "He comes of bad stock, Prue." + +"Not bad stock," she contradicted. "I've known his mother all my life. +She made a mistake. That was largely due to environment: many girls in +her position would have done the same. And William... we won't judge +William. We don't know--everything, do we? I am a great believer in +training. I know the faults I have to watch for. I shall teach my +child to be honest and generous and self-controlled." + +He smiled at her a little sadly. Youth is so hopeful and so sanguine. +But experience had proved to him that there is something which strikes +deeper than training, something which no training can overcome--the +nature which lies at the root of every human being. + +CHAPTER FORTY ONE. + +Edward Morgan came in immediate response to his wife's letter. It was +highly inconvenient with the press of business at the mills for him to +leave; but he spent the night in travelling in order to save a day, and +arrived at Wortheton, cold and stiff, in the early hours of the morning, +risking chills and all the evils he was wont to avoid in his alacrity to +respond to his wife's unexpected summons. + +It had come to him in a flash of unusual perceptivity that if he did not +seize this moment which her softened mood generously offered for +effecting a reconciliation, another opportunity might not present +itself. Despite a certain narrowness of outlook, there was no smallness +in Mr Morgan's nature. Because he read in Prudence's letter a sign of +relenting, an earnest wish to close their differences, it did not occur +to him to take a dignified stand and leave her to make all the advances, +extending his forgiveness only when fully assured of her penitence. +Such unequal methods, he realised quite clearly, never effected anything +beyond a compromise. And he was very anxious for a complete +understanding between himself and his young wife. Complete +understanding and complete trust. Without these no married life could +be congenial. + +His own marriage had fallen far short of his expectations. He knew that +he had not won Prudence's love. Since the night of their quarrel, when +she had confessed to loving Steele, the hope which he had fostered +patiently through the disappointing years, that he might yet win it, had +died utterly. But, oddly, that night with its ugly memories, its noisy +wrangling and bitter recrimination, had revealed with a certainty beyond +question that his own love for her, which he had believed was faded to +insignificance, was still very much alive. He wanted her very +earnestly. He missed her, missed her bright presence about the house, +her youthful prettiness, her coming and going in her independent search +for pleasure outside his home. She had brought a glimpse of the +unexpected, the delightful irrelevance of pleasant trivial things, into +the prosaic setting of everyday life which had caught him away +insensibly from the dulness and the worries of his stupendous business +undertakings, and brightened his home, very much, he often thought, as +the swift appearance of the sun would brighten the prospect on a grey +day. He had not realised, until she left him, how much he appreciated +these things. It was some return anyway, if not the most adequate he +could have desired, for the love he felt for her. He had made no +particular concession, had not even attempted to adapt himself to her +view of life. He had demanded a great deal of her and given little in +return. + +These thoughts floated through his mind as he drove up the hill to the +house. He was seeing their case altogether differently from the days +when he had taken his young wife home and quarrelled with her seriously +over such unimportant matters as ventilation and the direction of +household affairs. He was, he realised now, directly responsible for +the beginning of the breach which had widened yearly and ended in an +open rupture. It remained for him to make amends for those earlier +mistakes which had broken up the peace of his home. He had led too +self-centred a life. In future he would evince greater interest in his +wife's doings, show more sympathy with her aims. After all, a wife +needs something more from her husband than board and lodging; she has a +right to his confidence and companionship. He had never attempted to +make a companion of her. He had treated her always as a child, a child +to be spoilt and petted, until she refused the petting. Lately he had +treated her with greater indifference, but still as a child, an +unreasonable child towards whom kindness was misdirected. It was not +surprising that the woman in her had rebelled. + +It came as an agreeable surprise to Mr Morgan when he reached Court +Heatherleigh in the grey dawn, weary and cold after his long journey, to +be met on the doorstep by Prudence, who was the only member of the +household awake at that hour. + +Their meeting was somewhat constrained. He had not expected to see her +and was at a loss for words. They faced one another a little +self-consciously in the big empty hall; and then Edward Morgan bent down +and kissed his wife, with an air of uncertainty as to how his caress +would be received. Prudence flushed warmly, and, to cover her +embarrassment, became actively helpful in disentangling him from his +numerous wrappings. + +"I didn't expect to see any one at this hour," he said, and struggled +out of his heavy coat and hung it on a peg. Then he turned to her with +quick unexpectedness. "Thank you for the kindly thought, dear. It is +good to find a welcome awaiting one at the end of a journey." + +"You shouldn't have travelled by the night train," she said. "You know +you hate it." + +"It saved time," he explained. + +Arrangements had been made for an early breakfast for the traveller. +Prudence led him into the breakfast-room, and poured out the hot coffee +which she had made. They did not talk much. Each was conscious of the +strain of this meeting; and the remarks which passed between them were +impersonal and confined to the business of the moment. + +On finishing his meal Mr Morgan expressed a desire to go to bed; he +thought he could sleep for a couple of hours. Prudence accompanied him +upstairs, and parted from him outside his bedroom door with a smile that +was friendlier and more ready than any she had given him of late. He +was puzzled. He could not understand her. It was as though they had +gone back to the days of the courtship, when he had been diffident and +awkward and had found her shy and a little difficult, but kind always. +The wife who had left him in anger, who for years, it seemed to him on +looking back upon the past, had felt entirely indifferent towards him, +ceased to be a vivid memory with him; her place in his thoughts was +blotted out by the sunshine of Prudence's smile. + +He did not understand what had worked this change in her, but he +realised that in some subtle way she was changed. She had grown +suddenly older, more self-contained and womanly. She was as a person +who, after walking aimlessly for a long while, strikes the right road +unexpectedly, and proceeds more surely, with a definite purpose in view. + +Still puzzling over these things, he got into bed and soon forgot his +perplexities and fatigue in sleep. + +While Edward Morgan slept heavily, and the rest of the household +slumbered on undisturbed by the early arrival, Prudence remained at her +bedroom window, wakeful and deep in thought, looking out upon the new +day, upon the garden drenched with the heavy dews and saddened looking +in its mantle of unrelieved green. There were weeds upon the paths, +which formerly had been weedless. It occurred to her that the disorder +was significant of the disorder in their own lives. They had been +careless of what they should have tended carefully, and had allowed +things to fall into neglect. There was a good deal of weeding to be +accomplished on her own account. She had let the disorder accumulate +until it threatened to choke all the pleasant places in her mind and +leave her just a discontented woman with no object in life, no mental +outlook. + +Many lives as they unfold reveal a less agreeable vista than +anticipation has led one to expect. The philosophic mind makes the best +of these disappointments, and sets to work to discover hidden beauties +in the less alluring prospect ahead; it is the shallower mind which is +dismayed by adverse conditions. The road upon which Prudence had set +her feet was not the road of her inclination; it was none the less the +road she must travel. To follow it finely was the desire of her heart, +as she leaned from the window and thought sadly of the love she had let +pass out of her life, and of the responsibilities she had undertaken, +and so far neglected entirely. She had endeavoured to shape life to her +purpose, and instead life was shaping her to certain definite ends. + +Prudence leaned her chin on her hand and looked down upon the white +riband of road beyond the walls. Love had appeared to her along that +road, and love had parted from her there and gone on down the road out +of her life. There were two sad hearts more in the world, that was all. +But the road of life, like the road beyond the walls, remained to be +trodden. One had to go on. It is better to travel with a brave +confidence than to cherish vain regrets. + +Prudence and her husband met and had their talk out in the library after +breakfast. It was not so difficult a talk as she had imagined it would +be. Mr Morgan was as eager to make concessions as Prudence. He had +been doing a good deal of private thinking on his own account; and he +saw very clearly that his young wife had never received fair treatment. +He was anxious to make amends. + +His insistence on taking the greater share of the blame left her with +curiously little to urge. She scrutinised him, faintly amused. It +occurred to her that this generous closing of differences resembled the +impulsive overtures of two children who had quarrelled needlessly and +were bent on making it up. On one point he was very decided: he refused +to open up the cause of their quarrel. All that was past. He wanted to +start afresh from that moment; he was not going to look back. + +"I've been a fool, Prudence," he said. "A man is apt to forget the +value of even his dearest treasure, simply, I suppose, because of the +assurance given by possession; but when he is in danger of losing it he +discovers his need. My dear, I have been very unhappy." + +He was seated beside her on the sofa, and he moved as he finished +speaking and put a hand upon hers, which rested on the seat beside her. +She twisted her hand round and clasped his warmly. + +"Perhaps it was rather a good thing that I came away," she said, after a +moment's pause. "I was growing nervy. A woman with nerves is difficult +to live with. I have been thinking, and finding out things. It is +astonishing what a lot I've learned about myself just lately. I want to +do better." + +"It's been my fault," he insisted. "I never made sufficient allowance +for your youth, dear. We'll try again--make a fresh start. We'll talk +things out together and not bottle up grievances. We have never talked +freely enough to one another." + +"No," she said. + +"I'm rather glad," he said presently, "that things came to a head. It +has opened up the way to a better understanding. You are the sort of +woman a man learns to rely upon. You're honest. When I recall the +things I said to you that night I am ashamed of myself." + +"Never mind that now," she said quickly. "I don't want to think of +that. We agreed not to talk of that." + +She got up suddenly and stood in front of him, looking down at him with +softened, smiling eyes. + +"I want to ask a favour," she said, "and I feel that that isn't quite +honest just at the moment. It's like taking advantage of our talk. +That's so like a woman, isn't it?" + +He sprang up from his seat and took her by the shoulders and kissed her. + +"It's the most generous response you could make," he said--"to ask a +favour. It's a proof of your trust anyhow." + +"It's something very big," she said, with her earnest eyes lifted to his +face. "If you are altogether against it I'll not insist." + +"Tell me what it is," he said, manifestly surprised by the seriousness +of her manner, and entirely unsuspecting the nature of the request. + +A faint increase of colour stole into her cheeks, but she kept her gaze +lifted to his. + +"I have discovered a little child," she explained softly, "whom nobody +wants; and I want to mother him. I want to take him home with me." + +"You've always wanted that," he said, and waited for further +enlightenment. + +Briefly she confided to his scandalised ears the story of William's +illegitimate son, observing him closely while she unfolded the sordid +tale in simple direct language, making no appeal to sentiment, merely +relating the bald facts and leaving these to work their own effect. She +was not in the least surprised that he was too shocked on hearing the +story to feel any sympathy for the child in his deserted condition. +That side of the picture left him unmoved. + +"You couldn't bring that child home," he said, with more than a touch of +firmness. "A child like that! ... In our home! My dear, how could you +wish such a thing in view of his parentage?" + +"It is on account of his parentage I wish it," Prudence answered +quietly. "He is a Graynor, Edward. I want to give him a chance--a +chance to grow up honest and decent living, a chance to become a better +man than his father." + +"You talk as though the child were your responsibility," he complained. +"It's nothing to do with us." + +"Not directly, no," she said. + +"Nor indirectly," he insisted. "There isn't the faintest reason why you +should assume responsibility." + +"There is every reason," she urged. "He is a child launched evilly into +a world which shows little sympathy for these children. His life will +be a hard one with no good nor kindly influences surrounding it. There +are numberless cases like this--little children brought into the world +shamefully, and left to drift. It is not surprising that they grow up +to become bad citizens; it would be surprising if they didn't. I want +to give one of these small citizens his chance. The knowledge that he +is closely akin to me makes me more earnest in this wish. We are +childless people, Edward; we could do this without injuring any one. +Are you very set against it?" + +She paused, and gazed inquiringly into his grave face, while he looked +back at her for a long minute in silence, looked into the blue eyes, +raised to his with a frank trustfulness he had never beheld in them +before; and he knew that he could not refuse her her wish, however +distasteful the idea of introducing this child into his home might be. +Still gazing steadily into her quiet eyes, he said: + +"You wish to give this child his chance? I don't like the idea, but I +have no doubt it is none the less right because it is objectionable to +me. I withdraw my opposition. Give him his chance, Prudence. And in +return let me ask a favour of you." + +"What is that?" she said. + +He did not take his eyes from hers. He remained standing before her, +observing her with such a yearning wistfulness in his face that her +heart went out to him in pity because she had no love to offer in return +for the love he still bore for her. + +"What is the favour, dear?" she asked. "Give me also a chance," he said +hoarsely, and held out his hands to her, and waited. + +Prudence put her hands into his, and the tears were in her eyes. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Imprudence, by F.E. 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