the pot, and at her widowed mother
still less. For lo! she had a vision: the head and shoulders of St.
Augustine were sliding like some miraculous enamel along the rough-cast
wall. It is a gentle saint who is content with half another saint to see
her die. In her death, as in her life, Santa Deodata did not accomplish
much.

"So what are you going to do?" said Miss Abbott.

Philip started, not so much at the words as at the sudden change in the
voice. "Do?" he echoed, rather dismayed. "This afternoon I have another
interview."

"It will come to nothing. Well?"

"Then another. If that fails I shall wire home for instructions. I dare
say we may fail altogether, but we shall fail honourably."

She had often been decided. But now behind her decision there was a note
of passion. She struck him not as different, but as more important, and
he minded it very much when she said--

"That's not doing anything! You would be doing something if you
kidnapped the baby, or if you went straight away. But that! To fail
honourably! To come out of the thing as well as you can! Is that all you
are after?"

"Why, yes," he stammered. "Since we talk openly, that is all I am after
just now. What else is there? If I can persuade Signor Carella to give
in, so much the better. If he won't, I must report the failure to my
mother and then go home. Why, Miss Abbott, you can't expect me to follow
you through all these turns--"

"I don't! But I do expect you to settle what is right and to follow
that. Do you want the child to stop with his father, who loves him and
will bring him up badly, or do you want him to come to Sawston, where
no one loves him, but where he will be brought up well? There is the
question put dispassionately enough even for you. Settle it. Settle
which side you'll fight on. But don't go talking about an 'honourable
failure,' which means simply not thinking and not acting at all."

"Because I understand the position of Signor Carella and of you, it's no
reason that--"

"None at all. Fight as if you think us wrong. Oh, what's the use of your
fair-mindedness if you never decide for yourself? Any one gets hold of
you and makes you do what they want. And you see through them and laugh
at them--and do it. It's not enough to see clearly; I'm muddle-headed
and stupid, and not worth a quarter of you, but I have tried to do
what seemed right at the time. And you--your brain and your insight are
splendid. But when you see what's