for his tea, and wondering who on earth the man that I was
sitting in the dark with was--it was so unfortunate! You know Francis
thinks we've all spoiled Jim, always, and he looked right over him. I
said, 'Francis, you remember my brother?' and Francis said, with a
really insulting accent, 'Perfectly!' Jim said something about liking
London and hoping to settle there, and Francis said, 'Studdiford, I'm
glad you've come to see my wife, and I hope the affection you two have
felt for years won't be hurt by what I say. But I admire your own wife
very deeply, and you've put her in a most equivocal and humiliating
position. I can't pretend that I hope you'll settle here; you've caused
the people who love you sufficient distress as it is. I don't see that
your staying here is going to make anything any easier, while things are
as they are in California!' My dear," said Barbara with a sigh, "Francis
gets that way sometimes; English people do--there seems to be a sort of
moral obligation upon them to say what's true, no matter how
outrageously rude it sounds!"

"I had no idea Captain Fox felt that way," Julia said, touched.

"Oh, my dear! He's one of your warmest admirers. Well," Barbara went on,
"of course Jim ruffled up like a turkey cock. I didn't dare say
anything, and Francis, having done his worst, was really pretty fair.
Luckily, some other people came in, and later I went with Jim to the
nursery. Then he said to me, 'Do you think Julia's position is
equivocal, Bab?' And I said, 'Jim, I never knew any one to care so
little for public opinion as Julia. But all the rumour and gossip, the
unexplained mystery of it, are very, very hard for her.' I said, 'Jim,
aren't you going back?' and he said, 'Never.' Then he said, 'I think
Francis is right. This way is neither one thing nor the other. It ought
to be settled. Not,' he said, 'that I want to marry again!' I said,
'Jim, you _couldn't_ marry again, don't talk that way!' He said something
about my clinging to old ideas, and I said, 'Jim, don't tell me you have
given up your faith?' He said, very airily, 'I'm not telling you
anything, my dear girl, but if the law will set me free, perhaps that's
the best way of silencing Francis's remarks about Julia's equivocal
position!'"

Julia was silent for a while, staring beyond Barbara, her eyes like
those of a sick person, her face ashen. Barbara began to feel
frightened.

"So that's it," Julia said finally, in a tired, cold voice.