that airy, impersonal tone which permits nothing of what is said in
it to be taken seriously. Something said by the others had recalled her
to herself, and she was now returned very suddenly to the old position
of alertness and social finesse. Something icy seemed to pass over her,
and she immediately lost all self-consciousness, and began to speak to
her husband with less reserve than she had shown since he had come. But
he was not deceived. He saw that at that very instant she was further
away from him than she had ever been. He sighed, in spite of himself, as
Lali, with well-turned words, said some loving greetings to Marion, and
then talked a moment with Captain Vidall.

"Who can understand a woman?" said Lambert to his wife meaningly.

"Whoever will," she answered. "How do you mean?"

"Whoever will wait like the saint upon the pillar, will suffer like the
traveller in the desert; serve like a slave, and demand like a king;
have patience greater than Job; love ceaseless as a fountain in
the hills; who sees in the darkness and is not afraid of light; who
distrusts not, neither believes, but stands ready to be taught; who
is prepared for a kiss this hour and a reproach the next; who turneth
neither to right nor left at her words, but hath an unswerving
eye--these shall understand a woman."

"I never knew you so philosophical. Where did you get this deliverance
on the subject?"

"May not even a woman have a moment of inspiration?"

"I should expect that of my wife."

"And I should expect that of my husband. It is trite to say that men are
vain; I shall remark that they sit so much in their own light that they
are surprised if another being crosses their disc."

"You always were clever, my dear, and you always were twice too good for
me."

"Well, every woman--worth the knowing--is a missionary."

"Where does Lali come in?"

"Can you ask? To justify the claims of womanhood in spite of race--and
all."

"To bring one man to a sense of the duty of sex to sex, eh?"

"Truly. And is she not doing it well? See her now." They were now just
leaving the church, and Lali had taken General Armour's arm, while
Richard led his mother to the carriage.

Lali was moving with a little touch of grandeur in her manner and a more
than ordinary deliberation. She had had a moment of great weakness, and
then there had come the reaction--carried almost too far by the force
of the will. She was indeed straining herself too far.