inkable. She abandoned the idea of approaching Considine at all.

The next course that suggested itself was that of tackling Arthur; but
the atmosphere of mistrust, if not of actual hostility, that at present
involved their relations made her think twice about this. She could
not dare to treat Arthur as a normal person, for she knew that his hold
on normality was recent and precarious, and feared that a violent or
passionate scene might undo in a moment all the developments that had
been accomplished in the last six months. Even if they escaped this
catastrophe it was possible that she might offend him so deeply as to
lose him.

There remained Gabrielle, and though she knew that she was old enough
to speak to Gabrielle with the authority of a mother, she felt that
this would be impossible at Lapton. It was a curious attitude that she
found difficult to explain, but it seemed to her that to tackle Mrs.
Considine in her husband's house was dangerous, that it would give to
Gabrielle an unreasonable but inevitable advantage. At Lapton Mrs.
Payne felt she was a stranger, insecure of her ground, and therefore in
an inferior position; and this struck her more forcibly when she
reflected that, though she was confident of the rightness of her
conclusions, the actual evidence that she possessed was extremely
small. She admitted to herself that it would be difficult to carry her
point on the strength of looks and blushes, and was thankful that she
had not been betrayed by her instincts into hasty action.

Lying sleepless on her bed that night with her eyes open in the dark
she evolved a new plan that would not only give her the advantage of
choosing the site of the coming struggle, but would eliminate the
uncertain element of Considine and probably provide her with evidence
to strengthen her charge. This change of plan involved a duplicity
against which her straightforward nature rebelled, but with Arthur's
future at stake she would have stopped at nothing. After breakfast on
the Monday morning she went to Considine in his study, thanked him for
his kind consideration, and confessed that she had been needlessly
alarmed. Considine gracefully accepted this confession and the implied
apology, assuring her once more that there was really nothing to worry
about. Then, very carefully she made another suggestion. It was usual
at Lapton for the pupils to go home for a long week-end at half term.
She wondered if Mrs. Considine