ut he had been responsible for at least a share
in the fierce words in Ralph's house after the death of the Carthusians.
He had been hot-headed, insolent, theatrical; and he had not written to
acknowledge it. He had missed another opportunity at Lewes--at least
one--when pride had held him back from speaking, for fear that he should
be thought to be currying favour. And now this last opportunity, the
best of all--when Ralph had been accessible and courteous, affected,
Chris imagined, by the death of his mother--this too had been missed;
and he had allowed his brother to ride away without a word of regret or
more than formal affection.

He was troubled at mass, an hour after Ralph had gone; the distraction
came between him and the sweet solemnity upon which he was engaged. His
soul was dry and moody. He showed it in his voice. As a younger brother
in past years; as a monk and a priest now, he knew that the duty of the
first step to a reconciliation had lain with him; and that he had not
taken it.

It had been a troubled household altogether when Ralph had gone. There
was first the shock of Lady Torridon's death, and the hundred regrets
that it had left behind. Then Beatrice too, who had helped them all so
much, had told them that she must go back to town--her aunt was alone in
the little house at Charing, for the friend who had spent Christmas
there was gone back to the country; and Margaret, consequently, had been
almost in despair. Lastly Sir James himself had been troubled; wondering
whether he might not have been warmer with Ralph, more outspoken in his
gratitude for the affair of the mummers, more ready to welcome an
explanation from his son. The shadow of Ralph then rested on the
household, and there was something of pathos in it. He was so much
detached now, so lonely, and it seemed that he was content it should be
so.

* * * * *

There were pressing matters too to be arranged; and, weightiest of all,
those relating to Margaret's future. She would now be the only woman
besides the servants, in the house; and it was growing less and less
likely that she would be ever able to take up the Religious Life again
in England. There seemed little reason for her remaining in the country,
unless indeed she threw aside the Religious habit altogether, and went
to live at Great Keynes as Mary preferred. Beatrice made an offer to
receive her in London for a while, but in this case again she wou