d suddenly he felt
that he hated her; he was immediately calm and awaited her attack
almost nonchalantly, his hand resting on the mantelpiece, his legs
crossed.

Clare was still sitting at the table, her face half turned to Harry,
her glance resting on Robin. She tapped the table with her letters,
but otherwise gave no sign of agitation.

"Yes--about you, Harry. It is only that I think we have reason--almost
a right--to expect that you should yield a little more thoroughly to
our wishes. Both _Garrett_"--this with emphasis--"and myself are sure
that your failing to do so is only due to a misconception on your part,
and it is because we are sure that you have only to realise them to
give way a little to them, that I--we--are speaking."

"I certainly had not realised that I had failed in deference to your
wishes, Clare."

"No, not failed--and it is absurd to talk of deference. It is only
that I feel--we all feel"--this with another glance at Robin--"that it
is naturally impossible for you to realise exactly what are the things
required of us here. Things that would in New Zealand have been of no
importance at all."

"Such as----?"

"Well, you must remember that we have, as it were, the eyes of all the
town upon us. We occupy a position of some importance, and we are
definitely expected to maintain that position without lack of dignity."

"Won't you come to the point, Clare? It is a little hard to see----"

"Oh, things are obvious enough--surely, Harry, you must see for
yourself. People were ready to give you a warm welcome when you
returned. I--we--all of us, were only too glad. But you repulsed us
all. Why, on the very day after your arrival you were extremely--I am
sorry, but there is no other word--discourteous to the Miss Ponsonbys.
You have made your friends almost entirely amongst the fisher class, a
strange thing, surely, for a Trojan to do, and you now, I believe,
spend your evenings frequently in a low public-house resorted to by
such persons--at any rate you have spent them neither here nor at the
Club, the two obvious places. I am only mentioning these things
because I think that you may not have seen that such matters--trivial
as they may seem to you--reflect discredit, not only on yourself, but
also, indirectly, on all of us."

"You forget, Clare, that I have many old friends down at the Cove.
They were there when I was a boy. The people in Pendragon have changed
very largely, almost