at her; it was no more trouble for the car to go to
Bycars than it would be for her to run upstairs. The swift movement of
the car, silent and arrogant, and the occasional deep bass mysterious
menace of its horn, and the grace of John's Ernest's gestures on the
wheel as he curved the huge vehicle like a phantom round lumbering
obstacles--these things fascinated and exalted her.

In spite of the horrible secret she carried all the time in her heart,
she was somehow filled with an instinctive joy. And she began to
perceive changes in her own perspective. The fine Louis, whom she
had regarded as the summit of mankind, could never offer her an
automobile; he existed entirely in a humbler world; he was, after all,
a young man in a very small way of affairs. Batchgrew's automobile
would swallow up, week by week, more than the whole of Louis' income.
And further, John's Ernest by her side was invested with the mighty
charm of one who easily and skilfully governs a vast and dangerous
organism. All the glory of the inventors and perfecters of
automobiles, and of manufacturing engineers, and of capitalists who
could pay for their luxurious caprices, was centred in John's Ernest,
merely because he directed and subjugated the energy of the miraculous
machine.

And John's Ernest was so exquisitely modest and diffident, and yet had
an almost permanent humorous smile. But the paramount expression on
his face was honesty. She had never hitherto missed the expression of
honesty on Louis' face, but she realized now that it was not there....
And she had been adjudged worthy of John's Ernest! The powerful of the
world had had their eyes on her! Not Louis alone had noted her! Had
Fate chosen, and had she herself chosen, that very motor-car might
have been hers, and she at that instant riding in it as the mistress
thereof! Strange thoughts, which intensely flattered and fostered her
self-esteem. But she still had the horrible secret to carry with her.

When the car stopped in front of her gate, she forced open the door
and jumped down with almost hysterical speed, said "Good-bye" and
"Thank you" to John's Ernest, who becomingly blushed, and ran round
the back of the car with her purchases. The car went on up the lane,
the intention of John's Ernest being evident to proceed along Park
Road and the Moorthorne ridge to Hanbridge rather than turn the car
in the somewhat narrow lane. Rachel, instead of entering the house,
thrust her parcels fr