was the flexible, soft garment of your very Self? I am
laying aside a life that is somewhat cumbrous for me, and going to
one that, fits me like a glove.

{97}

And it is n't as if my case were like other people's, or as if
Arthur Markham was n't the finest of the fine. He is as good in his
widely different way as Arnold is. I think myself a highly fortunate
woman that two such lives are offered me to choose from--but I must
choose the one that belongs to me. Temperament is destiny. I am
following mine. I am doing what I wish to do. But I don't like the
way people hinder me with arguments that have nothing to do with the
real content of the matter. So I am saying good-bye at arm's length
to the dearest old make-believe cynic of an uncle that ever lived.
Because you know, Uncle Ben, that if you had me there you could n't
help preaching to me, and I am tired of preaching. It does n't get
one anywhere. And it does n't keep one away--from Reno, Nevada.

{98}

I suppose it's a queer thing to say but, really, you'll like Arthur
just as well as you do Arnold--if only you can bring your mind to it!

I am always, even in Nevada,

Your loving niece,
DESIRE.

I turned this letter over curiously in my hands, half expecting it to
impart to me the secret of how it was that people could think and feel
as if the very universe wheeled, glittering, about them and their
desires. Also, how could Desire be so guiltless of all the thousand
scruples and delicacies that were her birthright? How could she
exhibit such poverty of spirit, bravely and unashamed? How did it
happen that she, of all people, showed herself so ignorant of the
things that cannot be learned?

{99}

V

That evening as I drowsed over the hearth after dinner, still holding
Desire's letter in my hand and pondering over it, the card of young
Dr. Arnold Ackroyd was brought up to me.

I awoke myself with a start. An interview with Desire's husband was
the last thing in the world I wanted. The feeling that I had
vicariously injured the Ackroyds was still strong upon me, and I
shrank childishly from facing a man whom I could not think of
otherwise than as a maimed and wantonly injured creature.

Feeling this, I naturally welcomed him with a mixture of embarrassment
and effusion. Dr. Arnold smiled dryly, with perfect comprehension, and
took his seat beside the fire in the same win