is point she
gradually withdrew from society again, feeling that he needed her
no more.

VI

The noise of wheels on the gravel driveway of the lawn brought the
reflections of Mrs. Meredith to an abrupt close. The sound was
extremely unpleasant to her; she did not feel in a mood to
entertain callers this morning. Rising with regret, she looked
out. The brougham of Mrs. Conyers, flashing in the sun, was being
driven toward the house--was being driven rapidly, as though speed
meant an urgency.

If Mrs. Meredith desired no visitor at all, she particularly
disliked the appearance of this one. Rowan's words to her were
full of meaning that she did not understand; but they rendered it
clear at least that his love affair had been interrupted, if not
been ended. She could not believe this due to any fault of his;
and friendly relations with the Conyers family was for her
instantly at an end with any wrong done to him.

She summoned a maid and instructed her regarding the room in which
the visitor was to be received (not in the parlors; they were too
full of solemn memories this morning). Then she passed down the
long hall to her bedchamber.

The intimacy between these ladies was susceptible of exact
analysis; every element comprising it could have been valued as
upon a quantitative scale. It did not involve any of those
incalculable forces which constitute friendship--a noble mystery
remaining forever beyond unravelling.

They found the first basis of their intimacy in a common wish for
the union of their offsprings. This subject had never been
mentioned between them. Mrs. Conyers would have discussed it had
she dared; but she knew at least the attitude of the other.
Furthermore, Mrs. Meredith brought to this association a beautiful
weakness: she was endowed with all but preternatural insight into
what is fine in human nature, but had slight power of discovering
what is base; she seemed endowed with far-sightedness in high,
clear, luminous atmospheres, but was short-sighted in moral
twilights. She was, therefore, no judge of the character of her
intimate. As for that lady's reputation, this was well known to
her; but she screened herself against this reputation behind what
she believed to be her own personal discovery of unsuspected
virtues in the misjudged. She probably experienced as much pride
in publicly declaring the misjudged a better woman than she was
reputed, as that lady would have felt in