es or dislikes." A fuller ease had
come to her voice. By her brave pretence that all was well she was
persuading herself that all could be made well.

Perhaps it might be, thought Gregory, if only he could go on keeping his
temper with Madame von Marwitz and if Karen, wise and courageous
darling, could accept the unspoken between them, and spare him
definitions and declarations. A situation undefined is so often a
situation saved. Life grows over and around it. It becomes a mere
mummied fly, preserved in amber; unsightly perhaps; but unpernicious.
After all, he told himself--and he went on thinking over the incidents
of the afternoon while he dressed--after all, Madame von Marwitz might
not be much in London; she was a comet and her course would lead her
streaming all over the world for the greater part of her time. And above
all and mercifully, Madame von Marwitz was not a person upon whose
affections one would have to count. He seemed to have found out all
sorts of things about her this afternoon: he could have given Sargent
points. The main strength of her feeling for anyone, deep instinct told
him, was an insatiable demand that they should feel sufficiently for
her. And the chief difficulty--he refused to dignify it by the name of
danger--was that Madame von Marwitz had her deep instincts, too, and
had, no doubt, found out all sorts of things about him. He did not like
her; he had not liked her from the first; and she could hardly fail to
feel that he liked her less and less. He was able to do Madame von
Marwitz justice. Even a selflessly devoted mother could hardly rejoice
wholeheartedly in the marriage of a daughter to a man who disliked
herself; and how much less could Madame von Marwitz, who was not a
mother and not selflessly devoted to anybody, rejoice in Karen's
marriage. She was right in feeling that it menaced her own position. He
did her justice; he made every allowance for her; he intended to be
straight with her; but the fact that stood out for Gregory was that,
already, she was not straight with him. Already she was picking
surreptitiously, craftily, at his life; and this was to pick at Karen's.

He would give her a long string and make every allowance for the
vexations of her situation; but if she began seriously to tarnish
Karen's happiness he would have to pull the string smartly. The
difficulty--he refused to see this as danger either--was that he could
not pull the string upon Madame von Marwitz w