had gone; this at least was probably what
society supposed.

Mrs. Rutherford further added that her listener, Winthrop, was not to
suppose that Margaret herself had ever discussed these subjects with
her, or had ever discussed Lanse; his name was never mentioned by his
wife, and when she, the aunt, mentioned it, her words were received in
silence; there was no reply.

"I consider," continued Mrs. Rutherford, warming with her subject--"I
consider Margaret's complete silence the most extraordinary thing I have
ever known in my life. Living with me as she has done all these years,
shouldn't you suppose, wouldn't any one suppose, that at some time or
other she would have talked it over with me, given me some explanation,
no matter how one-sided--would have tried to justify herself? Very well,
then, she _never_ has. From first to last, in answer to my inquiries
(for of course I have made them), she has only said that she would
rather not talk about it, that the subject was painful to her. Painful!
I wonder what she thinks it is to me! She makes me perfectly miserable,
Evert--perfectly miserable."

"Yet you keep her with you," answered Winthrop, not taking Mrs. Harold's
side exactly, but the side of justice, perhaps; for he had seen how much
his aunt's comfort depended upon Margaret's attention, though he was not
prepared to admit that it depended upon that entirely, as Garda Thorne
had declared.

"Yes," responded Mrs. Rutherford, "I keep her with me, as you say. But
my house was really her home, you know, before her marriage, and of
course it is quite the best place for her now, as things are; if she
will not remain with her husband, at least her continuing to live always
with her husband's aunt, his almost mother, is the next best thing that
could be arranged for her. Appearances are preserved, you know; and
Margaret has a great regard for appearances."

"Possibly too great," Winthrop answered. But his sarcasm was not
intended to apply to the wife's regard for appearances--he also had a
regard for appearances--it was intended to apply to the wife herself.
His idea of her was that she had argued it all out carefully in her own
mind (she was not a person who acted on impulse), and had taken her
stand upon what she considered irrefragable grounds. In other words, she
had sat apart and judged her husband. Instead of trying to win him or to
keep him, she had made little rules for him probably, and no doubt very
good little