ntretemps</i>, no mere accident
of trains and coaches, was plain enough from Kitty's eyes--from all that
William did <i>not</i> say, no less than from what he said. And still this
levity!--this inconceivable levity! Was it true, as she knew was said,
that William had no high sense of honor, that he failed in delicacy and
dignity?

In reality, it was the same cry as the Dean's--upon another and smaller
occasion. But in this case it was unspoken. Lady Tranmore dropped into a
chair, one hand abandoned to her son, the other hiding her face. He
talked fast and tenderly, asking her help--neither of them quite knew
for what--her advice as to the move to Haggart--and so forth. Lady
Tranmore said little. But it was a bitter silence; and if Ashe himself
failed in indignation, his mother's protesting heart supplied it amply.

PART III

DEVELOPMENT

"Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille, Sich ein Character in dem
Strom, der Welt."

XIV

"What does Lady Kitty do with herself here?" said Darrell, looking round
him. He had just arrived from town on a visit to the Ashes, to find the
Haggart house and garden completely deserted, save for Mrs. Alcot, who
was lounging in solitude, with a cigarette and a novel, on the wide lawn
which surrounded the house on three sides.

As he spoke he lifted a chair and placed it beside her, under one of the
cedars which made deep shade upon the grass.

"She plays at Lady Bountiful," said Mrs. Alcot. "She doesn't do it well,
but--"

"--The wonder is, in Johnsonian phrase, that she should do it at all.
Anything else?"

"I understand--she is writing a book--a novel."

Darrell threw back his head and laughed long and silently.

"Il ne manquait que cela," he said--"that Lady Kitty should take to
literature!"

Mrs. Alcot looked at him rather sharply.

"Why not? We frivolous people are a good deal cleverer than you think."

The languid arrogance of the lady's manner was not at all unbecoming.
Darrell made an inclination.

"No need to remind me, madam!" A recent exhibition at an artistic club
of Mrs. Alcot's sketches had made a considerable mark. "Very soon you
will leave us poor professionals no room to live."

The slight disrespect of his smile annoyed his companion, but the day
was hot and she had no repartee ready. She only murmured as she threw
away her cigarette:

"Kitty is much disappointed in the village."

"They are greater brutes than she thought?"

"Quite