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The Shuttle Chapter 30 - A Return · The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library

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  Speaker 1: CHAPTER XXX. A RETURN At the close of a long
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  Speaker 1: warm afternoon, Betty Vanderpool came out upon the square stone
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  Speaker 1: terrace overlooking the gardens, and that part of the park which,
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  Speaker 1: in closing them, caused them, as they melted into its greenness,
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  Speaker 1: to lose all limitations, and appear to be only a
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  Speaker 1: more blooming bit of the landscape. Upon the garden Betty's
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  Speaker 1: eyes dwelt, as she stood still for some minutes, taking
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  Speaker 1: in their effect thoughtfully. Kedgers had certainly accomplished much. His
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  Speaker 1: close-trimmed lawns did him credit, his flower-beds were flushed and azured,
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  Speaker 1: purpled and snowed with bloom, sweet tall spires, hung with
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  Speaker 1: blue or white or rosy flower-bells, lifted their heads above
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  Speaker 1: the colour of lower growths. Only the fervent affection, the
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  Speaker 1: fasting and prayer of a Kedgers could have done such
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  Speaker 1: wonders with new things and old. the old ones he
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  Speaker 1: had cherished and allured into a renewal of existence the
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  Speaker 1: new ones he had so coaxed out of their earthen
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  Speaker 1: pots into the soil luxuriously prepared for their reception and
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  Speaker 1: had afterwards so nourished and bedewed with soft waterings so
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  Speaker 1: supported watched over and adored that they had been almost
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  Speaker 1: unconscious of their transplanting Without assistance he could have done nothing,
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  Speaker 1: but he had been given a sufficient number of under-gardeners,
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  Speaker 1: and had even managed to inspire them with something of
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  Speaker 1: his own ambition and solicitude. The result was before Betty's
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  Speaker 1: eyes in an aspect which, to such as knew the
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  Speaker 1: gardens well, the Dunham's, for instance, was astonishing in its success.'
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  Speaker 1: I' ve had privileges, miss, and so have the flowers,' Kedges
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  Speaker 1: had said warmly, when Miss Vanderpool had reported to him,
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  Speaker 1: for his encouragement, Dunham Castle's praise.' Not one of them
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  Speaker 1: has ever had to wait for his food and drink,
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  Speaker 1: nor to complain of his bed not being what he
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  Speaker 1: was accustomed to. They've not had to wait for rain,
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  Speaker 1: for we've given it to them from watering-cans, and thank
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  Speaker 1: goodness the season's been kind to them. Fetty, descending the
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  Speaker 1: terrace steps, wandered down the paths between the flower-beds, glancing
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  Speaker 1: about her as she went. The air of neglect and
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  Speaker 1: desolation had been swept away. Buttle and Tim Soames had
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  Speaker 1: been given as many privileges as Kedger's. THE CHIEF POINTS
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  Speaker 1: IMPRESSED UPON THEM HAD BEEN THAT THE WORK MUST BE
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  Speaker 1: DONE NOT ONLY THOROUGHLY, BUT QUICKLY. AS MANY ADDITIONAL WORKMEN
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  Speaker 1: AS THEY REQUIRED, AS MUCH SOLID MATERIAL AS THEY NEEDED,
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  Speaker 1: BUT THERE MUST BE A DISPATCH WHICH AT FIRST STAGGERED
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  Speaker 1: THEM TO CONTEMPLATE. THEY HAD NOT KNOWN SUCH METHODS BEFORE.
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  Speaker 1: THEY HAD BEEN ACCUSTOMED TO WORK UNDER MONEY LIMITATION THROUGHOUT
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  Speaker 1: THEIR LIVES, AND WHEN WORK MUST BE DONE WITH INSUFFICIENT
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  Speaker 1: AID IT MUST BE DONE SLOWLY. Economy had been the
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  Speaker 1: chief factor in all calculations, speed had not entered into them,
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  Speaker 1: so leisureliness had become a fixed habit. But it seemed
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  Speaker 1: American to sweep leisureliness away into space with a free gesture.'
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  Speaker 1: It must be done quickly,' Miss Vanderpool had said.' If
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  Speaker 1: ten men cannot do it quickly enough, you must have twenty,
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  Speaker 1: or as many more as are needed. It is time
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  Speaker 1: which must be saved just now.'' Time more than money,'
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  Speaker 1: it appeared.' Buttle's experience had been that you might take
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  Speaker 1: time if you didn't charge for it. When time began
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  Speaker 1: to mean money, that was a different matter. If you
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  Speaker 1: did work by the job, you might drive in a
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  Speaker 1: few nails, loiter, and return without haste. If you worked
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  Speaker 1: by the hour, your absence would be inquired into. In
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  Speaker 1: the present case, no one could loiter. That was realized early.
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  Speaker 1: The tall girl with the deep, straight look at you
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  Speaker 1: made you realize that, without spoken words. She expected energy
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  Speaker 1: something like her own. she was a new force and
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  Speaker 1: spurred them. No man knew how it was done, but
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  Speaker 1: when she appeared among them, even in the afternoon, look
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  Speaker 1: at that womanie, holding up her thin dress over lace petticoats,
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  Speaker 1: the like of which had not been seen before, she
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  Speaker 1: looked on with just the same straight expecting eyes. They
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  Speaker 1: did not seem to doubt in the least that she
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  Speaker 1: would find that great advance had been made. So advance
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  Speaker 1: had been made and work accomplished. As Betty walked from
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  Speaker 1: one place to another she saw the signs of it
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  Speaker 1: with gratification, The place was not the one she had
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  Speaker 1: come to a few months ago. Hot houses, outbuildings, stables
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  Speaker 1: were in repair. Work was still being done in different places.
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  Speaker 1: In the house itself, carpenters or decorators were enclosed in
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  Speaker 1: some rooms and at their business, but exterior order prevailed.
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  Speaker 1: In the courtyard, stablemen were at work, and her own
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  Speaker 1: groom came forward touching his forehead. She paid a visit
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  Speaker 1: to the horses.' They were fine creatures, and when she
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  Speaker 1: entered their stalls made room for her and whinnied gently
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  Speaker 1: in well-founded expectation of sugar and bread which were kept
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  Speaker 1: in a cupboard awaiting her visits. She smoothed velvet noses
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  Speaker 1: and patted satin sides, talking to Mason a little before
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  Speaker 1: she went her way. Then she strolled into the park.
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  Speaker 1: The park was always a pleasure. She was in a
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  Speaker 1: thoughtful mood, and the soft green shadowed silence lured her.
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  Speaker 1: The summer wind hushed the branches as it lightly waved them,
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  Speaker 1: The brown earth of the avenue was sun-dappled. There were
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  Speaker 1: bird-notes and calls to be heard here and there and everywhere,
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  Speaker 1: if one only arrested one's attention a moment to listen.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: And she was in a listening and dreaming mood, one
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  Speaker 1: of the moods in which bird-leaf and wind, sun-shade and
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  Speaker 1: scent of growing things have part. And yet her thoughts
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  Speaker 1: were of mundane things. It was on this avenue that G.
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  Speaker 1: Selden had met with his accident. He was still at
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  Speaker 1: Dunstan Vicarage, and yesterday Mount Dunstan, in calling, had told
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  Speaker 1: them that Mr. Penzance was applying himself with delighted interest
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  Speaker 1: to a study of the manipulation of the Delcoff. The
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  Speaker 1: thought of Mount Dunstan brought with it the thought of
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  Speaker 1: her father. This was because there was frequently in her
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  Speaker 1: mind a connection between the two. How would the man
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  Speaker 1: of schemes, of wealth and power almost unbounded, regard the
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  Speaker 1: man born with a load about his neck, chained to
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  Speaker 1: earth by it, standing in the midst of his hungering
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  Speaker 1: and thirsting possessions, his hands empty of what would feed
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  Speaker 1: them and restore their strength. Would he see any solution
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  Speaker 1: of the problem? She could imagine his looking at the
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  Speaker 1: situation through his gaze at the man, and considering both
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  Speaker 1: in his summing up. Circumstances and the man, she had
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  Speaker 1: heard him say, but always the man first. Being no visionary,
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  Speaker 1: he did not underestimate the power of circumstance. This Betty
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  Speaker 1: had learned from him. And what could practically be done
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  Speaker 1: by circumstance such as this, The question had begun to
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  Speaker 1: recur to her. What could she herself have done in
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  Speaker 1: the care of Rosie and Stornham, if chance had not
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  Speaker 1: placed in her hand the strongest lever? What she had
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  Speaker 1: accomplished had been easy, easy. All that had been required
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  Speaker 1: had been the qualities which control of the lever might
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  Speaker 1: itself tend to create in one. Given, by mere chance again,
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  Speaker 1: imagination and initiative, the moving of the lever did the rest.
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  Speaker 1: If chance had not been on one side, what then?
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  Speaker 1: And where was this man's chance? She had said to Rosie,
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  Speaker 1: in speaking of the wealth of America, sometimes one is
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  Speaker 1: tired of it, and Rosie had reminded her that there
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  Speaker 1: were those who were not tired of it who could
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  Speaker 1: bear some of the burden of it if it might
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  Speaker 1: be laid on their own shoulders. The great beautiful blind-faced
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  Speaker 1: house awaiting its slow doom in the midst of its
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  Speaker 1: lonely unfed lands, what could save it, and all it
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  Speaker 1: represented of race and name, and the stately history of men?
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  Speaker 1: But the power one professed to call base and sordid,
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  Speaker 1: mere money, She felt a sudden impatience at herself for
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  Speaker 1: having said she was tired of it. That was a
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  Speaker 1: folly which took upon itself the aspect of an affectation.
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  Speaker 1: And if a man could not earn money, or go
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  Speaker 1: forth to rob richer neighbours of it, as in the
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  Speaker 1: good old marauding days, or accept it if it were
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  Speaker 1: offered to him as a gift, what could he do? Nothing.
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  Speaker 1: If he had been born a village labourer, he could
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  Speaker 1: have earned by the work of his hands enough to
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  Speaker 1: keep his cottage roof over him, and have held up
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  Speaker 1: his head among his fellows.' but for such as himself
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  Speaker 1: there was no mere labour which would avail. He had
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  Speaker 1: not that rough, honest resource. Only the decent living and
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  Speaker 1: orderly management of the generations behind him would have left
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  Speaker 1: to him fairly his own chance to hold with dignity
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  Speaker 1: the place in the world into which fate had thrust
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  Speaker 1: him at the outset, a blind newborn thing of whom
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  Speaker 1: no permission had been asked.' If I broke stones upon
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  Speaker 1: the highway for twelve hours a day I might earn
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  Speaker 1: two shillings,' he had said to Betty on the previous day.
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  Speaker 1: I could break stones well, holding out a big arm,
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  Speaker 1: but fourteen shillings a week will do no more than
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  Speaker 1: buy bread and bacon for a stone-breaker. He was ordinarily
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  Speaker 1: rather silent and stiff in his conversational attitude towards his
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  Speaker 1: own affairs. Betty sometimes wondered how she herself knew so
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  Speaker 1: much about them, how it happened that her thoughts so
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  Speaker 1: often dwelt upon them. The explanation she had once made
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  Speaker 1: to herself had been half irony, half serious reflection. It
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  Speaker 1: is a result of the first Reuben Vanderpool. It is
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  Speaker 1: because I am of the fighting commercial stock, and when
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  Speaker 1: I see a business problem I cannot leave it alone,
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  Speaker 1: even when it's no affair of mine. As an exposition
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  Speaker 1: of the type of the commercial fighting stock, she presented,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: as she paused beneath overshadowing trees, an aspect beautifully suggesting
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  Speaker 1: a far different thing. She stood, all white from slim
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  Speaker 1: shoe to tilted parasol, and either the result of her
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  Speaker 1: inspection of the work done by her order, or a
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  Speaker 1: combination of her summer-day mood with her feeling for the problem,
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  Speaker 1: had given her a special radiance. It glowed on lip
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  Speaker 1: and cheek, and shone in her Irish eyes. She had
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  Speaker 1: paused to look at a man approaching down the avenue.
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  Speaker 1: He was not a labourer, and she did not know him.
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  Speaker 1: Men who were not labourers usually rode or drove, and
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  Speaker 1: this one was walking. He was neither young nor old,
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  Speaker 1: and though at a distance his aspect was not attracting,
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  Speaker 1: she found that she regarded him curiously, and waited for
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  Speaker 1: him to draw nearer. The man himself was glancing about
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  Speaker 1: him with a puzzled look and knitted forehead. When he
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  Speaker 1: had passed through the village he had seen things he
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  Speaker 1: had not expected to see. When he had reached the
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  Speaker 1: entrance gate— and for reasons of his own dismissed his
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  Speaker 1: station trap, he had looked at the lodge scrutinizingly, because
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  Speaker 1: he was not prepared for its picturesque trimness. The avenue
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  Speaker 1: was free from weeds, and in order. The two gates
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  Speaker 1: beyond him were new and substantial. As he went on
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  Speaker 1: his way and reached the first he saw, at about
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  Speaker 1: a hundred yards' distance, a tall girl in white standing
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  Speaker 1: watching him. Things which were not easily explainable always irritated him.
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  Speaker 1: That this place, which was his own affair, should present
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  Speaker 1: an air of mystery did not improve his humour, which
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  Speaker 1: was bad to begin with. He had lately been passing
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  Speaker 1: through unpleasant things, which had left him feeling himself tricked
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  Speaker 1: and made ridiculous, as only women can trick a man
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  Speaker 1: and make him ridiculous, he had said to himself. And
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  Speaker 1: there had been an acrid consolation in looking forward to
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  Speaker 1: the relief of venting oneself on a woman who dared
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  Speaker 1: not resent.' What has happened? Confound it!' he muttered when
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  Speaker 1: he caught sight of the girl.' Have we set up
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  Speaker 1: a house-party?' And then, as he saw more distinctly,' Damn!
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  Speaker 1: What a figure!' By this time Betty herself had begun
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  Speaker 1: to see more clearly. Surely this was the face she remembered,
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  Speaker 1: though the passing of years and ugly living had thickened
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  Speaker 1: and blurred somewhat its always heavy features. Suddenly she knew it,
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  Speaker 1: and the look in its eyes, the look she had
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  Speaker 1: as a child unreasoningly hated, Nigel Anstruthers had returned from
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  Speaker 1: his private holiday. As she took a few quiet steps
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  Speaker 1: forward to meet him, their eyes rested on each other.
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  Speaker 1: After a night or two in town, his was slightly bloodshot,
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  Speaker 1: and the light in them was not agreeable. It was
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  Speaker 1: he who spoke first, and it is possible that he
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  Speaker 1: did not quite intend to use the expletive which broke
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  Speaker 1: from him, but he was remembering things also. Here were
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  Speaker 1: eyes he too had seen before, twelve years ago, in
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  Speaker 1: the face of an objectionable long-legged child in New York,
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  Speaker 1: and his own hatred of them had been founded in
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  Speaker 1: his own opinion on the best of reasons. And here
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  Speaker 1: they gazed at him from the face of a young beauty,
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  Speaker 1: for a beauty she was.' Damn it!' he exclaimed.' It' s Betty!'' Yes,'
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  Speaker 1: she answered with a faint but entirely courteous smile.' It is.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you are very well.' She held out her hand.
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  Speaker 1: A delicious hand was what he said to himself as
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  Speaker 1: he took it. And what eyes for a girl to
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  Speaker 1: have in her head! were those which looked out at
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  Speaker 1: him between shadows. Was there a hint of the devil
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  Speaker 1: in them? He thought so, he hoped so, since she
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  Speaker 1: had descended on the place in this way. But what
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  Speaker 1: the devil was the meaning of her being on the
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  Speaker 1: spot at all? He was, however, far beyond the lack
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  Speaker 1: of astuteness which might have permitted him to express this
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  Speaker 1: last thought at this particular juncture. He was only betrayed
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  Speaker 1: into stupid mistakes, afterwards to be regretted, when rage caused
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  Speaker 1: him utterly to lose control of his wits.' and though
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  Speaker 1: he was startled and not exactly pleased, he was not
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  Speaker 1: in a rage now. The eyelashes and the figure gave
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  Speaker 1: an agreeable fillip to his humour. Howsoever she had come,
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  Speaker 1: she was worth looking at. How could one expect such
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  Speaker 1: a delightful thing as this, he said, with a touch
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  Speaker 1: of ironic amiability? It's more than one deserves. It's very
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  Speaker 1: polite of you to say that, answered Betty. He was
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  Speaker 1: thinking rapidly as he stood and gazed at her. There were,
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  Speaker 1: in truth, many things to think of under circumstances so unexpected.
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  Speaker 1: May I ask you to excuse my staring at you?
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: he inquired with what Rosie had called his awful agreeable smile.
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  Speaker 1: When I saw you last you were a fierce nine-year-old
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  Speaker 1: American child. I use the word fierce because, if you'll
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: pardon my saying so, there was a certain ferocity about you.
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  Speaker 1: I have learned at various educational institutions to conceal it,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: smiled Betty. May I ask when you arrived? A short
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  Speaker 1: time after you went abroad. Rosalie did not inform me
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  Speaker 1: of your arrival. She did not know your address. You
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  Speaker 1: had forgotten to leave it. He had made a mistake
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: and realized it, but she presented to him no air
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  Speaker 1: of having observed his slip. He paused a few seconds,
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  Speaker 1: still regarding her, and still thinking rapidly. He recalled the
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: mended windows and roofs and palings in the village, and
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: parked gates and entrance. Who the devil had done all that?
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  Speaker 1: How could a mere handsome girl be concerned in it?
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: And yet here she was.' When I drove through the village,'
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: he said next,' I saw that some remarkable changes had
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  Speaker 1: taken place on my property. I feel as if you
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  Speaker 1: can explain them to me.'' I hope they are changes
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: which meet with your approval.'' Quite, quite,' a little curtly,'
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: though I confess they mystify me.' Though I am the
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  Speaker 1: son-in-law of an American multimillionaire,' I could not afford to
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: make such repairs myself.' A certain small spitefulness, which was
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: his most frequent undoing, made it impossible for him to
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: resist adding the innuendo in his last sentence, and again
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: he saw it was a folly. The impersonal tone of
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: her reply simply left him where he had placed himself.'
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: We were sorry not to be able to reach you,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: as it seemed well to begin the work at once
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  Speaker 1: we consulted Messrs. Townlinson and Shepherd.'' We,' he repeated,' am
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  Speaker 1: I to have the pleasure, with a slight rhinus of
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  Speaker 1: the mouth?'' of finding Mr. Vanderpool also at Stornham?'' No,
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  Speaker 1: not yet.' As I was on the spot I saw
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: your solicitors' and asked their advice and approval for my father.'
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: If he had known how necessary the work was,' it
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: would have been done before, for Uhtred's sake.'' Her voice
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: was that of a person who, in stating obvious facts,'
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  Speaker 1: provides no approach to enlightening comment upon them,' and there
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: was in her manner the merest gracious impersonality.'' Do I
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: understand that Mr. Vanderpool employed someone to visit the place
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  Speaker 1: and direct the work?'' It was really not difficult to direct.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: It was merely a matter of engaging labour and competent foremen.'
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: An odd expression rose in his eyes.' You suggest a
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  Speaker 1: novel idea upon my word,' he said.' Is it possible— you see,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: I know something of America— is it possible I must thank
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  Speaker 1: you for the working of this magic?'' You need not
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  Speaker 1: thank me,' she said, rather slowly.' because it was necessary
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: that she also should think of many things at once,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: I could not have helped doing it. She wished to
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: make all clear to him before he met Rosie. She
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: knew it was not unnatural that the unexpectedness of his
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: appearance might deprive Lady Anstruthers of presence of mind. Instinct
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: told her that what was needed in intercourse with him was,
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  Speaker 1: above all things, presence of mind.' I will tell you
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  Speaker 1: about it,' she said.' We will walk slowly up and
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: down here, if you do not object.' He did not object.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted to hear the story as he could not
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: hear it from his nervous little fool of a wife,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: who would be frightened into forgetting things and their sequence.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: What he meant to discover was where he stood in
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  Speaker 1: the matter, where his father-in-law stood, and rather specially to
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: have a chance to sum up the weaknesses and strengths
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: of the new arrival. That would be to his interest.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: In talking this thing over, she would unconsciously reveal how
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: much vanity or emotion or inexperience he might count upon
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: as factors safe to use in one's dealings with her
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: in the future. As he listened, he was supported by
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  Speaker 1: the fact that he did not lose consciousness of the
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: eyes and the figure. But for these it is probable
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: that he would have gone blind with fury at certain
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: points which forced themselves upon him. The first was that
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: there had been an absurd and immense expenditure which would
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: simply benefit his son and not himself. He could not
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: sell or borrow money on what had been given. apparently
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: the place had been re-established on a footing such as
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: it had not rested upon during his own generation or
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: his father's as he loathed life in the country it
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: was not he who would enjoy its luxury but his
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: wife and her child the second point was that these
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: people this girl had somehow had the sharpness to put
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: themselves in the right and to place him in a
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: position at which he could not complain without putting himself
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: in the wrong Public opinion would say that benefits had
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: been heaped upon him, that the correct thing had been
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: done correctly with the knowledge and approval of the legal
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: advisers of his family. It had been a masterly thing,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: that visit to Townlinson and Shepherd. He was obliged to
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: aid his self-control by a glance at the eyelashes. She
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: was a new sort of girl, this Betty, whose childhood
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: he had loathed, and to his jaded taste novelty appealed enormously.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Her attraction for him was also added to by the
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: fact that he was not at all sure that there
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: was not combined with it a pungent spice of the
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: old detestation. He was repelled as well as allured. She
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: represented things which he hated. First, the mere material power
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: which no man can bully whatsoever his humour. It was
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: the power he most longed for, and as he could
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: not hope to possess it, most sneered at and raged against. Also,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: as she talked, It was plain that her habit of
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: self-control and her sense of resource would be difficult to
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: deal with. He was a survival of the type of
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: man whose simple creed was that women should not possess resources,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: as when they possessed them they could rarely be made
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: to behave themselves. But while he thought these things he
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: walked by her side and both listened and talked, smiling
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: the agreeable smile.' You will pardon my dull bewilderment,' he said.'
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: It' s not unnatural, is it, in a mere outsider?' and Betty,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: with a beautiful impersonal smile, said, We felt it so
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: unfortunate that even your solicitors did not know your address.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: When at length they turned and strolled toward the house,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: a carriage was drawing up before the door, and at
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: the sight of it Betty saw her companion slightly lift
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: his eyebrows. Lady Anstruthers had been out and was returning.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: The groom got down from the box, and two men-servants
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: appeared upon the steps. Lady Anstruthers descended, laughing a little
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: as she talked to Uhtred, who had been with her.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: She was dressed in clear pale grey, and the soft
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: rose lining of her parasol warmed the colour of his eyes.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: skin sir nigel paused a second and put up his
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: glass is that my wife he said really she quite
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: recalls new york the agreeable smile was on his lips
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: as he hastened forward He always more or less enjoyed
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: coming upon Rosalie suddenly. The obvious result was a pleasing
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: tribute to his power. Betty, following him, saw what occurred.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Uhtred saw him first and spoke quick and low.' Mother,'
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: he said. The tone of his voice was evidently enough.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Lady Anstruthers turned with an unmistakable start. The rose-lining of
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: her parasol ceased to warm her colour. In fact, the
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: parasol itself stepped aside, and she stood with a blank,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: stiff white face.' My dear Rosalie,' said Sir Nigel, going
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: towards her,' you don't look very glad to see me.'
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: He bent and kissed her quite with the air of
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: a devoted husband. Knowing what the caress meant, and seeing
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Rosie's face as she submitted to it, Betty felt rather cold.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: After the conjugal greeting he turned to Uhtred.' You look
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: remarkably well,' he said. Betty came forward.' We met in
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: the park, Rosie,' she explained.' We have been talking to
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: each other for half an hour.' The atmosphere which had
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: surrounded her during the last three months had done much
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: for Lady Anstruther's nerves. She had the power to recover herself.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Sir Nigel himself saw this when she spoke.' I was
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: startled because I was not expecting to see you,' she said.'
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: I thought you were still on the Riviera. I hope
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: you had a pleasant journey home.'' I had an extraordinarily
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: pleasant surprise in finding your sister here,' he answered, and
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: they went into the house.' In descending the staircase on
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: his way to the drawing-room before dinner, Sir Nigel glanced
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: about him with interested curiosity. If the village had been
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: put in order, something more had been done here. Remembering
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the worn rugs and the bald-headed tiger, he lifted his brows.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: To leave one's house in a state of resigned dilapidation
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: and return to find it filled with all such things
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: as comfort combined with excellent taste might demand was an
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: enlivening experience, or would have been so under some circumstances.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: As matters stood, perhaps he might have felt better pleased
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: if things had been less well done. But they were
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: very well done. They had managed to put themselves in
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: the right in this also. The rich sobriety of colour
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: and form left no opening for supercilious comment, which was
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: a neat weapon it was annoying to be robbed of.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: The drawing-room was fresh, brightly charming, and full of flowers.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Betty was standing before an open window with her sister.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: His wife's shoulders, he observed at once, had absolutely begun
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: to suggest contours. At all events, her bones no longer
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: stuck out. But one did not look at one's wife's
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: shoulders when one could turn from them to a fairness
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: of velvet and ivory.' You know,' he said, approaching them,'
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I find all this very amazing. I have been looking
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: out of my window onto the gardens.'' It' s Betty who's
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: done it all,' said Rosie.' I did not suspect you
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: of doing it, my dear Rosalie,' smiling. When I saw
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Betty standing in the avenue I knew at once that
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: it was she who had mended the chimney-pots in the
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: village and rehung the gates. For the present, at least,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: it was evident that he meant to be sufficiently amiable.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: At the dinner-table he was conversational and asked many questions,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: professing a natural interest in what had been done. It
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: was not difficult to talk to a girl whose eyes
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: and shoulders combined themselves with a quick wit and a
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: power to attract which he reluctantly earned he had never
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: seen equalled. His reluctance arose from the fact that such
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: a power complicated matters. He must be on the defensive
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: until he knew what he was going to do, what
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: he must do himself, and what results were probable or possible.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: He had spent his life in intrigue of one order
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: or another. He enjoyed outwitting people, and rather preferred to
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: attain an end by devious paths. He began every acquaintance
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: on the defensive. His argument was that you never knew
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: how things would turn out, Consequently, it was as well
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: to conduct oneself at the outset with the discreet forethought
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: of a man in the presence of an enemy. He
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: did not know how things would turn out in Betty's case,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: and it was a little confusing to find oneself watching
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: her with a sense of excitement. He would have preferred
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: to be cool, to be cold, and he realised that
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: he could not keep his eyes off her.' I remember
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: with regret,' he said to her later in the evening,'
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: that when you were a child we were enemies.'' I
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: am afraid we were,' was Betty's impartial answer.' I am
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: sure it was my fault,' he said.' Pray forget it.'
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Since you have accomplished such wonders,' will you not in
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: the morning take me about the place' and explain to
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: me how it has been done?'' When Betty went to
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: her room she dismissed her maid as soon as possible'
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: and sat for some time alone and waiting.' She had
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: had no opportunity to speak to Rosie in private' and
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: she was sure she would come to her.' In the
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: course of half an hour she heard a knock at
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the door.' Yes, it was Rosie, and her newly-born colour
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: had fled and left her looking dragged again. She came
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: forward and dropped into a low chair near Betty, letting
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: her face fall into her hands. I'm very sorry, Betty,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: she half-whispered, but it's of no use. What is no use?
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Betty asked. Nothing is any use. All these years have
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: made me such a coward. I suppose I always was
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: a coward, but in the old days there never was
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: anything to be afraid of.' What are you most afraid
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: of now?'' I don't know. That's the worst. I'm afraid
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: of him, just of himself, of the look in his eyes,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: of what he may be planning, quietly. My strength dies
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: away when he comes near me.'' What has he said
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: to you?' she asked.' He came into my dressing-room and
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: sat and talked. He looked about from one thing to another,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: and pretended to admire it all, and congratulated me. but
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: though he did not sneer at what he saw, his
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: eyes were sneering at me. He talked about you. He
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: said that you were a very clever woman. I don't
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: know how he manages to imply that a very clever
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: woman is something cunning and debased, but it means that
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: when he says it. It seems to insinuate things which
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: make one grow hot all over. She put out a
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: hand and caught one of Betty's. Betty, Betty, she implored,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: don't make him angry, don't.' I am not going to
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: begin by making him angry,' Betty said,' and I do
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: not think he will try to make me angry at first.'' No,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: he will not,' cried Rosalie.' And you remember what I
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: told you when first we talked about him?'' And do
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: you remember,' was Betty's answer,' what I said to you
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: when I first met you in the park?' If we
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: were to cable to New York this moment,' we could
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: receive an answer in a few hours.'' He would not
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: let us do it,' said Rosie.' He would stop us
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: in some way.'' as he stopped my letters to Mother,'
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: as he stopped me when I tried to run away.' Oh, Betty,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: I know him and you do not.' I shall know
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: him better every day.' This is what I must do.'
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: I must learn to know him.' He said something more
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: to you than you have told me, Rosie.' What was it?''
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: He waited until Detcham left me,' Lady Anstruthers confessed, 'more
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: than half reluctantly.' And then he got up to go
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: away' and stood with his hands resting on the chair-back'
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: and spoke to me in a low, queer voice.' He said,'
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Don' t try to play any tricks on me, my good girl,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: and don't let your sister try to play any. You
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: would both have reason to regret it.' She was a
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: half-hypnotised thing, and Betty, watching her with curious but tender eyes,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: recognised the abnormality.' Ah, if I am a clever woman,'
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: she said,' he is a clever man. He is beginning
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: to see that his power is slipping away. That was
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: what she seldom would call a bluff.' End of chapter
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: 30